IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT APPEAL NO : 625 of 2001 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the Order dated 04/08/2000 in WP No:6204 OF 1994 on the file of the High Court.) Between: The Cheif General Manager, Singareni Collieries Company ltd., Bellampalli, Adilabad Dist. ..... APPELLANT AND 1 The Presiding Officer, Industral Tribumnal-I, Chandra Vihar, M.J.Road, Hyderabad. 2 Sri G.Narasaiah, Ex.Trammer, Shantifhani Mine, rep by Vice President, A.P.Colliery mazdoor, Sandg(INTUC), Po:Bellampalli, Adilabad Dist. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Appellant: MR.K.SRINIVASA MURTHY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR LABOUR The Court made the following : JUDGMENT: (per the Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy) This appeal, under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, is directed against the order dated 24.08.2000 passed by the learned Single Judge in W.P.No.6204 of 1994, partly allowing the writ petition modifying the award to the extent directing reinstatement with back wages from 01.01.1989, with a direction to the appellant/petitioner company to send the second respondent to Osmania Hospital for ﬁxation of his age and take action. The second respondent-workman, on issuance of notice dated 13.02.1987 stating that he would be retiring from the service with eﬀect from 01.01.1989 on attaining the age of superannuation, raised an industrial dispute in I.D.No.85 of 1989 disputing the correctness of the entries in the service register stating that at the time of his appointment on 16.12.1957 he was 21 years old but not 29 years as recorded by the Management. On reference being made to the Industrial Tribunal, the Tribunal through its award dated 19.11.1993 held that contrary to the settlement arrived at between the Management and the workers union, the termination of workman, namely, G. Narasaiah, Trammer, Shanti Khani, w.e.f. 01.01.1989 is unjustiﬁed and he is entitled to be reinstated into service with full back wages from the date of his termination. The appellant-Management challenged the said award before the learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P.No.6204 of 1994. The learned Single Judge, after considering the entire matter afresh, vide order dated 24.08.2000 directed the ﬁrst respondent to refer the case of the second respondent to the Superintendent, Osmania Hospital for ﬁxation of his age, as he is no more an employee of the petitioner Company and he is apprehending that justice may not be done if he appears before the Medical Oﬃcer of the Company, in the light of the bad blood that has ﬂown between the management and the second respondent since 1989. After ﬁxation of the age of the second respondent by the Osmania Hospital, if the second respondent is entitled to continue in service after 1.01.1989 till he attains the age of superannuation, the petitioner-company shall pay all the arrears of salary and extend all other consequential beneﬁts treating the period for which he is out of service as on duty within eight weeks from the date of receipt of the report. If the second respondent is not entitled to continue in service after 01.01.1989, the date on which he was made to retire, no relief can be given to the second respondent and the award to that extent is modiﬁed. While observing so, the writ petition was partly allowed modifying the award directing the petitioner-company to send the second respondent to Osmania Hospital for fixation of his age and to take action. It is not the case of the second respondent-workman before the Labour Court that his case is referred to the Medical Board constituted by the Company for ﬁxation of his age, and the opinion of the Medical Board so constituted is not impartial and biased against him and he will not get justice if the same is referred to the Medical Board. As per clause 18 of the settlement dated 17.09.1969 arrived at between the Management and the workers union, the individual employee, who joined the Company’s service before 1960 and whose age or date of birth as entered in the service record has not been veriﬁed by the Company’s Medical Oﬃcer after the introduction of gratuity scheme in 1959 will be sent by the management for veriﬁcation of age or date of birth by the Company’s Medical Oﬃcer wherever the age or date of birth is entered in the service record is contested and the opinion of the Medical Officer in this regard shall be final. The second respondent’s case was that his case has to be referred to the Medical Board constituted for the said purpose as per the terms of the settlement referred to above, but he nowhere pleaded that his case should not be referred to the Medical Board. In view of the same, the observation made by the learned Single Judge that bad blood ﬂown between the Management and the second respondent since from 1989, is without any basis and contrary to the pleadings of the parties, since the learned Single Judge has not modiﬁed the award ordering reinstatement with back wages and directed the ﬁrst respondent to refer the case of the second respondent to Osmania Hospital. In view of the same, the direction issued by the learned Single Judge directing the respondent to refer the case of the second respondent to Osmania Hosptial for ﬁxation of his age, cannot be sustained. Accordingly, the Writ Appeal is partly allowed modifying the direction given by the learned Singly Judge to the extent of directing the ﬁrst respondent to refer the case of the second respondent to Medical Board constituted as per the terms of the settlement arrived between the Management and the workers union, for ﬁxation of age of the second respondent and on such determination, consequential steps have to be taken as directed by the learned Single Judge. No costs. ​___________________ (A. GOPAL REDDY,J) _________________________ (VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR,J) 24th September, 2008 Js. ………………. REGISTRAR To 1 The Presiding Officer, Industral Tribumnal-I, Chandra Vihar, M.J.Road, Hyderabad. 2 Sri G.Narasaiah, Ex.Trammer, Shantifhani Mine, rep by Vice President, A.P.Colliery mazdoor, Sandg(INTUC), Po:Bellampalli, Adilabad Dist. 3 2 CCs to G.P. for Labour, High Court of A.P. Hyderabad. (OUT) 4 2 CD copies