THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT APPEAL No.326 OF 2001 AND WRIT PETITION NO.25427 OF 2000 COMMON JUDGMENT: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice A.Gopal Reddy) This writ appeal, under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, is ﬁled by Singareni Collieries Company Limited, represented by its General Manager, challenging the orders passed in W.P.M.P.No.32430 of 2000 in W.P.No.25427 of 2000, dated 13.2.2001 dismissing the stay petition for staying the operation of the award passed by the Chairman-cum- Presiding Oﬃcer, Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, Gadavarikhani, Karimnagar District in I.D.No.166 of 1996, dated 19.7.2000, which is the subject-matter of challenge in the writ petition. Pending the writ appeal, this Court stayed the operation of the impugned award subject to the appellant-Management paying to the respondent No.2-workman the wages last drawn by him from the date of ﬁling of writ petition and continuing to pay the same every month. It was also directed that the arrears upto 31st March, 2001 should be paid by 15th April, 2001 and the salary from the month of March onwards should be paid before 15th of every succeeding month. The appellant-Management has been complying the said order from 2001 onwards. The Writ Petition No.25427 of 2000 has been ﬁled by the appellant-Management questioning the award of the Labour Court in I.D.No.166 of 1996 dated 19.7.2000. The workman raised the dispute under Section 2-A (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act stating that he was appointed as a Badli-ﬁller on compassionate grounds when his father was medically unﬁt for service and terminated on that ground. He was appointed in June, 1994 and was removed from service on 16.2.1996 on the basis of police veriﬁcation report, without any enquiry. The appellant-Management, contesting the I.D., ﬁled counter stating that the workman falsely described himself as Kurma Mallaiah. Kurma Narayana retired voluntarily from service on the health ground. The Superintendent of Police, Karimnagar informed that the workman was a Militant of Sikasa, a Militant Organization and his name is Tippana Boina Mallaiah, son of Sailu and involved in Crime No.236 of 1991 registered under Section 148, 324 r/w Section 149 of I.P.C. On receipt of such report, after veriﬁcation of the antecedents of the workman, his services were terminated. Before the Labour Court, in order to substantiate the termination as illegal, on behalf of the workman no oral evidence was adduced but Exs.W.1 to W.7 were marked. On behalf of the Management, Exs.M.1 to M.5 were marked. The learned Presiding Oﬃcer of the Labour Court, after referring to the documents, held that the workman worked from 28.11.1994 to 16.2.1996 in the appellant-Management company and merely because the workman had involved in a criminal case will not give rise a cause of action for his removal. The Management ought to have conducted an enquiry with regard to the impersonation before removing the workman and since no notice was given to the workman about the impersonation and as no enquiry was conducted in that regard, the termination of services of the workman is not valid and accordingly allowed the I.D. with liberty to the Management to conduct enquiry against the workman with regard to the allegations of impersonation, after giving opportunity to him to prove that there was no impersonation and if impersonation is proved, the Management can take action against him. As seen from the award of the Labour Court, absolutely no reasons are assigned to disbelieve the documents submitted by the appellant-Management including the caste certiﬁcate of workman issued by Mandal Revenue Oﬃcer, Ramagundam and the letter addressed by the Superintendent of Police, Karimnagar District about the antecedents of the workman including that he is not the son of Kuruma Narayana, who retired from service voluntarily from the company of the appellant-Management. Further, no opportunity was given to the workman to prove that he is the son of Kuruma Narayana, in whose place, he was appointed on compassionate grounds. Therefore, we are inclined to set aside the impugned award. In view of the above, the award passed by the Labour Court in I.D.No.166 of 1996, dated 19.7.2000 is set aside and the matter is remitted to the Labour Court for fresh disposal after giving opportunity to the workman as well as the Management to lead evidence. It is needless to observe that since the appointment of the workman is subject to veriﬁcation of his antecedents, that itself authorizes the appellant-Management to terminate his services, if the information furnished by him proved to be false. The Labour Court should complete the enquiry within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order and pass a reasoned award. Till passing of ﬁnal award, the interim stay granted by this Court on 8.3.2001 in W.A.M.P.No.631 of 2001 shall be in operation. If the workman fails to participate in the enquiry, the Labour Court shall go through the evidence of the Management and decide the issue within the time stipulated and report compliance. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is allowed and the Writ Appeal is disposed of. No costs. ________________ A. GOPAL REDDY, J. ______________________ 02nd SEPTEMBER, 2008 VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J. Tsr.