IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.12047 of 1998 (O&M) Date of decision:06.07.2009 M/s Uniwalk Papers (P) Limited, Badmajra ...Petitioner versus Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal, Punjab ...Respondents and others. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: None for the petitioner. Mr. Somesh Gupta, Advocate, for the respondent Nos.2 to 4 and 6. ----- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? K.Kannan, J.(Oral) 1. The challenge in the writ petition is the order dated 15.10.1997 passed by the Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal, Punjab at Chandigarh, upholding the contention of the workmen that the workmen had been unlawfully laid off and they were entitled to compensation for the period when they were laid off. 2. The defence by the management was that they had not closed the factory but were carrying out some repair works of the Boiler Plant and had stopped its industrial operations and had put up a notice in the notice board that the renovation of the Boiler Plant was being undertaken and that the workmen would be entitled to compensation as per Section 25 C of the Industrial Disputes Act. The Labour Court Civil Writ Petition No.12047 of 1998 (O&M) - 2 - found that the notice itself was an after thought and the management did not also bring on record any evidence to substantiate that there were not even 50 workmen at that time. The Labour Court entered the finding that the management had laid off on 23.04.1994, when the strength of the workmen was more than 100 and there had been violation of the conditions imposed by the provision of Section 25-FFA of the Act. The Labour Court also took note of the fact that the majority of the workmen had resumed duty on 15.12.1994 and the workmen were bound to be paid compensation from the period w.e.f. 24.02.1994 to 06.12.1994 upto the day prior to the day when the Plant had resumed its operations. 3. The order passed by the Industrial Tribunal, Punjab, is legally sound based on document and oral evidence and there is no scope for interference in the writ petition. Under the circumstances, the order of the Labour Court-cum-Industrial Tribunal is confirmed and the writ petition is dismissed. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 06.07.2009 sanjeev