Civil Appeal Nos
1891 1895 of 1982
Appeals by Special leave from the Judgment and order dated the 11th September 1979 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Misc
Petitions Nos 77 to 81 of 1979
J Ramamurthy and Ms R Vaigai for the Appellants
GB Pal SK Gambhir Ashok Mahajan and Ms Sunita Kripalani for the Respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DESAI J
Nothing appears more well settled than that the extraordinary jurisdiction under article 226 conferred on the High Court was a weapon forged to overreach injustice and secure and advance justice
When therefore this extraordinary power is used to defeat justice and to promote technicality not only its raison d etre is violated but it becomes a handy instrument for those to whom litigation cost is a luxury enjoyed at the cost of others and employed to exhaust and harass an unequal opponent
Sad as it may appear that unfortunate situation emerges in this appeal
The first respondent Shree Synthetics Ltd  respondent  for short appears to be a company governed by the 
It has set up a factory at Ujjain where it manufactures polyester fibre
Appellants in each of these appeals were the workmen of the respondent
There is a trade union of the workmen employed by the respondent of which at the relevant time three out of the five appellants in this group of appeals were office bearers
Babulal Nagar was the President of the Union Babulal Jaiswal was the General Secretary and Ramesh Chandra was the Secretary
776 According to the respondents on June 3 1975 around 1110 P M One Verma a workman of the respondent on the shift being over went out of the compound gate and took his seat i l a tempo when Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal along with three other appellant approached him and asked Verma to alight from the tempo as they wanted to talk to him
On Verma s disinclination to come out of
the vehicle it was alleged that Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal pulled Verma out of the vehicle and all the appellants assaulted him with fists and kicks and felled him down as a result of which Verma sustained bleeding injuries on his head
On hearing the commotion staff of the security department intervened and rescued him
Setting out these allegations a charge sheet was drawn up and served on the five appellants followed by a composite domestic enquiry at the end of which all of them were dismissed from service
The appellants moved five different applications before the labour Court questioning the validity of the domestic enquiry held against them as also the legality and propriety of the orders terminating their services
The Labour Court was of the opinion that the domestic enquiry was held according to the relevant rules and as there was evidence in support of the alleged misconduct the management was justified in imposing the penalty of dismissal from service and accordingly all the five applications were dismissed
The appellants filed five separate revision petitions before the industrial Court under Secs
66 and 67 of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act 1950 Act for short
All the five revision petitions were heard by the President of the Industrial Court at Indore who was of the opinion that the entire approach of the inquiry officer Manager in arriving at the findings of misconduct in his enquiry appear to be biased and unfair and that the conclusions are neither fair nor reasonable and as such the dismissal cannot be sustained on the basis thereof Accordingly he by a common judgment dated February 26 1979 allowed all the revision petitions and set aside the orders of the Labour Court dismissing the applications and remanded the matters to the Labour Court for a fresh decision after giving both the parties due opportunity to adduce evidence in respect of the alleged misconduct
The respondent moved five separate misc
petitions in the High 777 Court of Madhya Pradesh Jabalpur at Indore under articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution questioning the correctness of the decision of the Industrial Court
A Division Bench of the High Court held that the Industrial Court exceeded its jurisdiction by interfering with the findings of facts and this was ill error apparent on the face of the award
Accordingly it issued a writ of certiorari and quashed the decision of the Industrial Court
Hence these five civil appeals by special leave
Conditions of service in respect of the employees employed by the respondent are governed by the Certified standing orders
section O 12 f which was relied upon by the respondent for imputing mis conduct to the appellants reads as under 12
Disciplinary action for misconduct l The following acts or omissions on the part of an employee shall amount to a major misconduct a to e xx xx xx f drunkenness riotous or disorderly behaviour during working hours at the undertaking or conduct endangering the life or safety of any person intimidation physical duress or any act subversive of discipline
The allegation in the charge sheet on the basis of which the domestic enquiry was held reads as under F Babulal was on duty on 361975 in the B Shift from 3 p m to 11 p m
At about 815 pm when Shri Satya Prakash Verma a Telephone Operator and Shri K C Bagdi Shift time keeper were coming out of the canteen after taking their meals Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal were sitting in the lawn in front of the canteen
At that time Babulal Jaiswal asked Babulal Nagar to explain to Verma the whole position in Hindi
There upon Babulal Nagar went to Bagdi and Verma and uttered the following meaningful words You are just a child now
You do not understand anything if you interfere in this you will have to pay a heavy price true translation Verma gave no reply and both Verma and Bagdi 778 went into the office
Thereafter at 915 pm A K Awasthi and Rajendra Jain went to the canteen to take their meals
At that time both the petitioners namely Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal were present there
Babulal Nagar took out a false token and challenged that it may be checked by any security official
Rajendra Jain thereupon said that he was not in his uniform
At that time Babulal Jaiswal uttered some filthy words and thereafter both Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal left the canteen uttering filthy abuses
At 930 pm Babulal Nagar spoke to Verma on telephone that he should come out of the Plant as he wanted to talk to him
Verma therefore come out in the lawn from his office where both Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal were present
At that time Babulal Jaiswal said to Verma as under You have put end to our movement
In future things will not be right if you interfere with us and threatened that we shall see at 11 O  clock outside the gate
true translation After the shift was over at about 1110 p m whom Verma went out of the gate and took his seat in the tempo
Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal along with the other three petitioners went to him and asked Verma to come out of the tempo as they wanted to talk to him
Verma replied that they could talk to him there
Thereupon both Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal pulled Verma out of the tempo and all the petitioners assaulted Verma with fists and kicks and felled him down as a result of which he sustained a bleeding injury on his head
On hearing the cresc of Verma members of the security Department rescued him and took him inside the gate
Apart from anything else a very serious question touching upon the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Authority to hold an enquiry on the allegation that SO 12 1 f was violated would arise before the Labour Court more particularly in view of the recent decision of this Court in Ms Glaxo Laboratories I Ltd vs Presiding officer Labour Court Meerut  Ors
wherein section O 22 applicable to Glaxo Laboratories I Ltd wh ch is in pari materia 779 with the section O 12 1 f came up for construction of this Court
After an exhaustive review of the various decisions on the subject this Court after repelling the construction canvassed on behalf of the appellant in that case that such acts as drunkenness riotous or disorderly behaviour are per se misconduct uncomplicated with time place content and wherever committed would constitute misconduct held that the various acts of misconduct therein set out would be misconduct for the purpose of the relevant standing orders if committed within the premises of the establishment or in the vicinity thereof
The Court further held that what constitutes establishment or its vicinity would depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case
But we shall not finally pronounce on this point as the industrial Court had remanded the matter to the Labour Court which has jurisdiction to examine this case and we are inclined to uphold that order
Therefore the narrow question which we propose to examine in this case is whether the High Court in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction under articles 226 and 227 should have by giving undue importance to a technical objection of jurisdiction which on proper fathoming it itself lacked should have set aside a well considered reasoned judgment of the President of the Industrial Court which again had merely remanded the matter thus prolonging to some extent the agony of the unemployed workers commencing from 1975
Let us at the commencement acquaint ourselves with the scope and ambit of the power of the Labour Court as such as the Industrial Court under the Act which would provide a correct perspective to determine whether the High Court in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction under articles 226 and 227 was at all justified in interfering with the order mad by the Industrial Court or that legalese prevailed over substantial social justice
61 prescribes the powers of the Labour Court which inter alia includes the power A to decide a disputes regarding which application has been made to it under sub section 3 of section 31 of the Act Sec
31 enables an employee to make an application for relief against all order of an Employer made under ally of the standing orders
Dismissal from service is an order made under the relevant standing orders
A relief against such order can be obtained by making all application under Sec
Entry I in 780 Schedule II of the Act prior to the amendment of 1981 Provided that the Labour Court may examine the propriety or legality of an order passed or action taken by an employer acting or purporting to act under the Standing orders
The only feature worth noticing is that the scope ambit and contours of the jurisdiction of the Labour Court in such an application would have to be determined within the parameters or the expression the propriety or legality of an order
Against an order made by the Labour Court under Sec
61 a revision would lie under Sec 66 to the Industrial Court
Sec 66 has been wholly recast in 1981
However at the relevant time Sec 66 read as under 66 Revision
1 The Industrial Court may on the application by any party to a case which has been finally decided by a Labour Court other than a case decided under paragraph D of sub section 1 of section 61 call for and examine the record of such case and may pass order in reference thereto as it thinks fit Provided that the Industrial Court shall not vary or reverse any order of the Labour Court under this section i it is satisfied that the Labour Court has a exercised jurisdiction not vested in it by law or b failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested or c acted in exercise of its jurisdiction illegally to material irregularity ii notice has been served on the parties to the case and opportunity given to them for being heard
2 No application under sub section I shall lie to the Industrial Court unless it is made within thirty days of the date on which the case has been finally decided by the Labour Court 781 Provided that in computing the period of thirty days the period requisite for obtaining a copy of the order shall be excluded
 Having noticed the relevant provisions it is now necessary to ascertain with precision the jurisdiction of the Labour Court under Sec
The scheme of the standing orders applicable to the respondent Company would show that a penalty of dismissal or removal from service can be imposed after holding a domestic enquiry According to the relevant provisions in the standing orders such an order when made would be open to challenge by a substantive application under Sec 66 1 and in such an application if and when made the Labour Court will have jurisdiction to decide the legality and the propriety of the order
When jurisdiction is conferred union the Labour Court not only to examine the legality of the order as also the propriety of the order the Labour Court can in exercise of the jurisdiction examine the propriety or impropriety of the order
The expression propriety  is variously understood one meaning assigned to it being justice  in Legal Thesaurus by Burton at page 902
Amongst various shades of meaning assigned to the expression the oxford English Dictionary VOl
VIII page 1484 sets out fitness appropriateness aptitude suitability appropriateness the circumstances or conditions conformity with requirement rule or principle rightness correctness justness etc  If therefore the justice or the justness in relation to a legal proceeding where evidence is led is questioned and the authority is conferred with jurisdiction to examine the propriety of the order or decision that authority will have the same jurisdiction as the original authority to come to a different conclusion on the same set of facts
If any other view is taken the expression propriety  would lose all significance
The expression legality and propriety  has been used in various statutes where appellate or revision jurisdiction is conferred upon a superior authority
In Raman  Raman Ltd vs The State of Madras  Anr
while examining the ambit of the jurisdiction of the State Government under Sec
64A of the as amended by the Motor Vehicles Madras Amendment Act 1948 to interfere with the orders of subordinate Regional Transport Authority on the ground of propriety this Court observed as under The word propriety has nowhere been defined in the Act and is capable of a variety of meanings
In the 782 Oxford English Dictionary Vol VIII it has been stated to mean fitness appropriateness aptitude suitability appropriateness to the circumstances or conditions conformity with requirement rule or principle rightness correctness justness accuracy
If the State Government was of the opinion that respondent No I had better facilities for operation than the appellant and their service to the public would be more beneficial lt could not be said that the State Government was in error in thinking that the order of the Board confirming the order of the Regional Trans port Authority was improper
 In Moti Ram vs Suraj Bhan  Ors
while examining the scope and ambit of jurisdiction of the High Court under Sec
15 5 of the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act 1949 this Court observed as under Under Sec 15 5 the High Court has jurisdiction to examine the legality or propriety of the order under revision and that would clearly justify the examination of the propriety or legality of the finding made by the authorities in the present case about the requirement of the landlord under section 13 3 a iii
 After referring to these two decisions in Ching Chong Sine vs Puttay Gowder Alagiriswami J held that tho court exercising revisional jurisdiction to decide the legality or propriety of an order has the power to come to a conclusion different from that arrived by the subordinate court on the same set of circumstances
In Ahmedabad Sarangpur Mills Company Ltd vs Industrial Court Ahmedabad and Anr
a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court held that the expression legality and propriety  in section 781 of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act does not limit the jurisdiction of the labour court to a revisional jurisdiction
And that any order made by the employer under the standing order is subject to the jurisdiction conferred on the labour court under Sec 78 which can scrutinise the legality and propriety of the order
This jurisdiction was described by the court as original jurisdiction meaning thereby that the labour 783 court can come to an entirely different conclusion on the same set of facts
This view was followed by another Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court in Manekchown and Ahmedabad Manufacturing Company Ltd vs Industrial Court and another
In Vithoba Maruti Chavan vs section Taki Bilgrami Member Industrial Court Bombay and Anr a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court held that the power to decide propriety  and legality of the order made under standing order does not confer a mere revisional jurisdiction but a wider jurisdiction which will enable the Labour Court to set aside the order of the employer depending upon the facts and circumstances of the case
Mr Pai on the other hand drew our attention to Vaidyanath vs The Madhya Pradesh vs State Road Transport Corporation and Ors
While observing that a Labour Court cannot exercise the power of an appellate court and cannot reappraise the evidence yet both the Labour Court or the Industrial Tribunal can interfere with the findings of fact of the inquiry officer of the employer only where they are not supported by any legal evidence or are so perverse that no reasonable person would arrive at such findings on the materials placed before him It was held that the power of the Labour Court or the Industrial Court under the Act are not wider than those of Industrial Tribunal under the before the introduction of Sec
11 A in the latter Act
In Kymore Cement Mazdoor Congress vs Industrial Court Indore and Ors it was held that the expression illegally ar with material irregularity in sub cl
c of the first proviso of Sec
661 do not cover either errors of facts or law and they do not refer to the decision arrived at but to the manner in which it is reached
Approaching the matter from this angle the High Court set aside the decision of the Industrial Court in revision against the order of the Labour Court on the ground that the Industrial Court had interfered with a finding of fact which even if erroneous would not confer jurisdiction on the Industrial Court to interfere in exercise of revisional jurisdiction Mr Pai emphasised that the view of MP High Court on the interpretation of Sec 61 should prevail over the view of Gujarat High Court interpreting a different statute
This does not carry conviction because Sec 61 of the Act is in pari materia with Sec
78 784 of the Gujarat Act
However it would be profitable to refer to the decision of this Court in Awdesh Kumar Bhatnagar vs The Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg
Weaving Co Ltd and Anr
in which this Court while examining the scope of the jurisdiction conferred by Sec 66 on the Industrial Court under the Act held that if the Labour Court has committed serious mistakes the Industrial Court has jurisdiction to interfere with the same and upheld the decision of the Industrial Court which had interfered with the findings of facts recorded by the Labour Court A full Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Nand Kumar Singh vs The State Industrial Court Indore and Ors held that perverse or arbitrary findings based on no material fall within the ambit of the phrase exercise of jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity justifying interference in revision
It is not necessary to further multiply the authorities
Therefore it appears well established that the Labour Court having jurisdiction to examine the legality and propriety of the order made by the employer under the standing order will have jurisdiction to examine the propriety of the order which will permit it to come to a conclusion different from the role to which the employer arrived at Such being the amplitude of the jurisdiction of the Labour Court if upon a wrong view of ambit of its jurisdiction Labour Court approaches the matter as if it exercises narrow revisional jurisdiction the industrial Court in revision can interfere on the ground of failure to exercise jurisdiction vested in the Labour Court or material irregularity in exercise of its jurisdiction
661 of the Act provides that the Industrial Court omitting the portion not relevant for the present purpose may call for and examine the record of such case and pass order in reference thereto as it thanks fit
If the Industrial Court has the jurisdiction to pass any order in reference to a case called for by it thinks fit obviously it can come to a conclusion on the same set of facts different from the one to which the Labour Court had arrived
It was however urged that this jurisdiction of wide amplitude has been cut down by the proviso which provides that the Industrial Court shall not very or reverse any order of the Labour Court under Sec
661 unless i it is satisfied that the Labour Court has a exercised jurisdiction not vested in it by law or b failed to exercise a 785 jurisdiction so vested or c acted in exercise of its jurisdiction A illegally or with material irregularity
It was urged that these clauses so circumscribe and cut down the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court under Sec 66 as to be on par with Sec 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure
The main part of Sec
61 clearly spells out the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court to pass any order in reference to the case brought before it as it thinks fit
The expression as it thinks fit  confers a very wide jurisdiction enabling it to take an entirely different view on the same set of facts
The expression as it thinks fit  confers a very wide jurisdiction enabling it to take an entirely different view on the same set of facts The expression as it thinks fit  has the same connotation unless context otherwise indicates as he deems fit  and the latter expression was interpreted by this Court in Raja Ram Mahadev Paranjype  Ors
vs Aba Maruti Mali  Ors to mean to make an order in terms of the statute an order which would give effect to a right which the Act has elsewhere conferred
Is this jurisdiction so circumscribed as to bring it on par with Sec 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure  Proviso does cut down the ambit of the main provision but it cannot be interpreted to denude the main provision of any efficacy and reduce it to a paper provision
Both must be so interpreted as to permit interference which if not undertaken there would be miscarriage of justice
Sub cl
c of the first proviso to Sec
661 will permit the Industrial Court to interfere with the order made by the Labour Court if the Labour Court has acted with material irregularity in disposal of the dispute before it
If the finding recorded by the Labour court is
such to which no reasonable man can arrive obviously the Industrial Court in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction would be entitled to interfere with the same even if patent jurisdictional error is not pointed out
Reverting to the facts of this case the Industrial Court while having the revision petitions found that the petitioners were trade union workers and the three of them were the office bearers of the Union
It was further found that a material piece of evidence clearly pointing to the contrary was wholly overlooked by the inquiry officer
It extracted the relevant portion of the evidence of witness Balchand and pointed out in no uncertain terms that if the inquiry officer had taken note of the relevant piece of evidence and 786 had applied its mind to it and dealt with it in the report it would have been difficult to hold the charge proved
The non application of mind of the inquiry officer was pointed out by referring to that part of the final order which manifestly overlooked the material piece of evidence which would go to the root of the matter
The Industrial Court observed that the inquiry officer quitely skipped over very material portion of the evidence of Balchand which went a long way to falsify the charges relating to the incidents which preceded the actual assault on Verma The Industrial Court then pointed out that report exhibit D18 purporting to have been made by victim Verma to the factory Manager on the day following the date of the occurrence when properly scanned appears to be a highly suspicious evidence because it is not dated aud does not bear the endorsement of the officer to whom it was presented  This is permissible because the revisional jurisdiction enables the authority to point something which is no evidence legally speaking or in the eye of law
It was pointed out that Verma did not identify the report
The Industrial Court concluded that the possibility of this report being introduced at a later stage to strengthen the case against the live appellants cannot be ruled out
After referring to other infirmities in the approach of the Labour Court the Industrial Court concluded that the entire approach of the Manager in arriving at the findings of misconduct in his inquiry appear to be biased and unfair  and the conclusions are neither fair nor reasonable and any order of dismissal based thereon cannot be sustained  Can it ever be said that in reaching this conclusion the Industrial Court exceeded its revisional jurisdiction  The whole approach of the Labour Court dealing with the report of the inquiry as also the inquiry itself clearly disclosed material irregularity and thereby the Labour Court failed to exercise jurisdiction vested in it namely to examine the property of the order with in it failed to do
The Industrial Court in our opinion was perfectly justified in interfering with the order of the Labour Court
Even then the approach of the Industrial Court being conscious of the severe constraints on its jurisdiction was of dignified restraint and just
It merely set aside the award of the Labour Court and did not proceed to reappraise evidence but remitted the case to the Labour Court for a fresh decision
It was thus an eminently just order
Is it such an order which the High Court could have interfered with in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction  The High Court 787 observed that the Labour Court can only interfere with the decision of the inquiry officer if the findings arrived at by him were perverse
The High Court completely missed the ambit of jurisdiction of the Labour Court in that it had the jurisdiction to decide the legality and propriety of the order
Impropriety as converse of propriety cannot be equated with perversity as understood by the High Court
The High Court further observed that if the finding of the misconduct is a plausible conclusion flowing from the evidence adduced at the enquiry the labour tribunals have no jurisdiction to sit in judgment over the decision of the employer as an appellate body
This betrays complete lack of understanding of the jurisdiction of the Labour Court in respect of an order made under the standing order as set out in Schedule II item I to the Act which enables the Labour Court to examine the legality and propriety of the order
The High Court therefore wholly misread the relevant provision and interfered with the decision of the Industrial Court which was pre eminently just and within the four corners of its jurisdiction
What left us guessing was that according to the High Court the Industrial Court had narrow jurisdiction while dealing with the order of the Labour Court yet the High Court in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction interfered with the decision of the Industrial Tribunal
Times without number it has been pointed out that article 225 is a device to secure and advance justice and not otherwise
Sadhu Ram vs Delhi Transport Corporation Ordinarily the courts exercising extraordinary jurisdiction is loathe to interfere with an order remanding the matter to the authority directed to investigate facts
The Industrial Court had made an order of remand
The High Court was not justified in interfering with the same
By this uncalled for interference it has merely prolonged the agony of the unemployed workmen and permitted the jurisdiction of the High Court under Act
226 to be exploited by those who can well afford to wait to the deteriment of those who can ill afford to wait by dragging the latter from court to court for adjudication of peripheral issues avoiding decision on issues more vital to them
DP Maheshwari vs Delhi Administration and Ors
788 Accordingly these appeals succeed and are allowed and the decision of the High Court is
set aside and the one of the Industrial Court is restored with costs
As the matter is an old one the Labour Court is directed to give top priority to this matter and dispose this of as early as possible and not later than six months from today


Summary:
The appellants were workmen employee of the first respondent company
It was alleged that they assaulted another workman as a result of which he sustained bleeding injuries on his head
A chargesheet was drawn up by the management was served on the appellants which was followed by a composite domestic enquiry at the end of which all of them were dismissed from service
The appellants moved five different applications before the Labour Court questioning the validity of the domestic enquiry as also the legality and propriety of the orders terminating their services
The Labour Court finding that the domestic enquiry was held according to the relevant rules and that there was evidence in support of the alleged misconduct held that the management was justified in imposing the penalty of dismissal from service
The appellants filed five Separate revision petitions before the Industrial Court under sections 66 and 67 of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act 1960
The President of the Industrial Court finding that the entire approach of the Inquiry Officer Manager in arriving at the findings of mis conduct in the domestic enquiry appeared to be biased and unfair and that the conclusions neither fair nor reasonable held that the dismissal could not be sustained
All the revision petitions were therefore allowed and the orders of the Labour Court dismissing the applications were set aside and 773 the matters were remanded for a fresh decision after giving the parties due opportunity to adduce evidence in respect of the alleged misconduct
The respondent company filed writ petitions before the High Court questioning the correctness of the order of the Industrial Court and a Division Bench held that the Industrial Court exceeded its jurisdiction by interfering with the findings of facts and as this was an error apparent on the face of the award quashed the decision of the Industrial Court
Allowing the appeals to this Court  HELD 1
i Times without number it has been pointed out that article 226 is a device to secure and advance justice and not otherwise
787E Sadhu Ram vs Delhi Transport Corporation   referred to
ii ordinarily the Courts exercising extraordinary jurisdiction is loathe to interfere with an order remanding the matter to the authority directed to investigate facts
787F DP Maheshwari vs Delhi Administration and Ors  referred to
In the instant case the Industrial Court had made an order of remand
The High Court was not justified in interfering with the same
By this uncalled for interference it has merely prolonged the agony of the unemployed workmen and permitted the jurisdiction of the High Court under article 226 to he exploited by those who can well afford to writ to the detriment of those who can ill afford to wait by dragging the latter from court to court for adjudication of peripheral issues more vital to them
787F G 2
i Dismissal from a service is an order made under the relevant standing orders
A relief against such an order can be obtained by making an application under section 61 to the Labour Court
Against the order made by the Labour Court under section 61 a revision would lie under section 66 to the Industrial Court
779H 780C ii If and when an application under section 61 is made the Labour Court will have jurisdiction to decide the legality and propriety of the order of dismissal or removal from service
When jurisdiction is conferred upon the Labour Court not only to examine the legality of the order as also the propriety of the order the Labour Court can in exercise of the jurisdiction examine the propriety or impropriety of the order
781C 3
i The main part of Sec 66 clearly spells out the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court to pass any order in reference to the case brought before it as it thinks fit 
The expression as it thinks fit confers a very 774 wide jurisdiction enabling it to take an entirely different view on the same set of facts The expression as it thinks fit  has the same connotation unless the context otherwise indicates as he deems fit 
785B C Raja Ram Mahadev Paranjype and ors
vs Aba Maruti Mali and ors 1962 Suppl
1 SCR 739 referred to
ii Sub cl
c of the first proviso to Section 66 1 will permit the Industrial Court to interfere with the order made by the Labour Court if the Labour Court has acted with material irregularity in disposal of the dispute before it
If the finding recorded by the Labour Court is such to which no reasonable man can arrive the Industrial Court in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction would be entitled to interfere even if patent jurisdictional error is not pointed out
785E F 4
The expression propriety is variously understood one meaning assigned to it being justice 
Amongst various shades of meaning assigned to the expression the dictionary sets out fitness appropriateness aptitude suitability etc  as some of them
781D E 5
If the justice or the justness in relation to a legal proceeding where evidence is led is questioned and the authority is conferred with jurisdiction to examine the propriety of the order or decision that authority will have the same jurisdiction as the original authority to come to a different conclusion on the same set of facts
If any other view is taken the expression propriety  would lose all significance
The expression legality and propriety  has been used in various statutes where appellate or revisional jurisdiction is conferred upon a superior authority
781E G Raman and Raman Ltd vs The State of Madras and Anr   Moti Ram vs Suraj Bhan and Ors
   Awdesh Kumar Bhatnagar vs The Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg
Weaving Co Ltd and Anr
1972 Lab
and IC 842 referred to
In the instant case the Industrial Court while hearing the revision petitions found that the petitioners were trade union workers and that three of them were office bearers of the union and that a material place of evidence clearly pointing to the contrary was wholly overlooked by the inquiry officer
The Industrial Court also pointed out that report Ex D18 purporting to have been made by the assaulted worker to the factory Manager on the day following the date of occurrence when properly scanned appeared to be highly suspicious evidence because it was not dated and did not bear the endorsement of the officer to whom it was presented
After referring to other infirmities in the approach of the Labour Court the Industrial Court concluded that the entire approach of the Manager in arriving at the findings of misconduct in his enquiry appeared to be biased and unfair  and the conclusions neither fair nor reasonable and any order of dismissal based thereon could not be sustained  The Industrial Court was therefore perfectly justified in interfering with the order of the Labour Court
It merely set aside the award 775 of the Labour Court and did not proceed to re appraise the evidence but remitted the case to the Labour Court for fresh decision
It was thus an eminently just order
The High Court however observed that the Labour Court could only interfere with the decision of the inquiry officer if the findings arrived at were perverse
The High Court completely missed the ambit of jurisdiction of the Labour Court in that it had the jurisdiction to decide the legality and propriety of the order
Impropriety as converse of propriety cannot be equated with perversity
The High Court wholly misread the relevant provision and interfered with the decision of the Industrial Court which was preeminently just and within the four corners of its jurisdiction
785G 786A G 787A D