AFR
W.P. No.10291/2011
08.07.2011
The petitioner is a workman whose services have
been terminated, and the dispute challenging the
termination is pending before the Labour Court for the
past more than a year.
This writ petition has been filed with a prayer that
the Labour Court should be directed to decide the case
within a time frame to be fixed by this Court. Reliance
has been placed upon some provisions of the Act.
In our opinion, merely because a litigant has filed a
writ petition, it would not be appropriate for this Court to
fix time frames and to direct the Labour Court, or for that
matter any subordinate or inferior tribunal, to decide the
dispute within such particular period. This is because
this Court is not aware of the Board of the
Courts/Tribunals below, as to how many cases older or
more urgent than this case are still pending. Ordering a
priority to one case obviously can only be at the cost of
delay to the other pending cases.
Therefore, unless the case before the inferior
tribunal is exceptionally old, or the order-sheet indicates
undue neglect of unduly long adjournments, normally the
tribunal should be at liberty to manage its own Board
and such application seeking expediting disposal should
be moved and examined at that level.
Therefore, we consider and it appropriate to require
the petitioner to move an application for expeditious
disposal of the case before the Labour Court itself, and if
such an application is moved, the Labour Court will
attempt to decide the case with such expedition as may
be possible in the light of the other older or more urgent
cases which are pending before that Court. Subject to
above, the writ petition is disposed of.
(Sushil Harkauli) (U. C. Maheshwari)
Judge Judge
snb/-