C.W.P. No.6350 of 2008 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P. No.6350 of 2008 Decided on : 21-10-2008 Gurdip Singh ....Petitioner VERSUS Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal Punjab and Others ....Respondents CORAM:-HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA. HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAWAB SINGH. Present:- Mr. R.S. Ahluwalia, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Sandeep Moudgil, D.A.G., Punjab. HEMANT GUPTA, J The challenge in the present writ petition is to the Award dated 23.05.2006 (Annexure P-1) passed by the Industrial Tribunal, whereby an Industrial Dispute raised by the Union in respect of punishment imposed upon the petitioner was answered against the workman. The petitioner, a Conductor with the Punjab Roadways was inflicted as many as nine punishments while working with its Depot. The dispute in respect of such orders of punishment, was raised vide Demand Notice dated 13.10.1997. The learned Labour Court answered the reference against workman on the ground of delay and laches and that the petitioner has confessed his guilt in regard to some of the orders and also unsuccessfully challenged one of the orders before the Civil Court. C.W.P. No.6350 of 2008 -2- Learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently argued that once the learned Labour Court has found four orders, out of the nine orders to be illegal, the reference could not have been declined on the ground of delay and laches. In support of such contentions, reliance has been placed on a decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in case reported as Mahavir Singh Vs. U.P. State Electricity Board, 1999(9) SCC 178. We do not find any merit in the arguments raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner. The orders of imposing minor punishment which have been illegal, were passed between 5.10.1987 to 11.2.1988. However, the dispute was raised with the issuance of Demand Notice on 13.10.1997 i.e. almost 9 years later. In our opinion, learned Labour Court has rightly declined to answer the reference after such gross delay and laches. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Nedungadi Bank Ltd. v. K.P. Madhavankutty, 2000 (2) SCC 455, held as under:- "Law does not prescribe any time-limit for the appropriate Government to exercise its powers under Section 10 of the Act. It is not that this power can be exercised at any point of time and to revive matters which had since been settled. Power is to be exercised reasonably and in rational manner. There appears to us to be no rational basis on which the Central Government has exercised powers in this case after a lapse of of about seven years of the order dismissing the respondent from service. At the time reference was made no industrial dispute existed or could be even said to have been apprehended. A dispute which is stale could not be the subject-matter of reference under Section 10 of the Act. As to when a dispute can be said to be stale would depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. When the matter has C.W.P. No.6350 of 2008 -3- become final, it appears to us to be rather incongruous that the reference be made under Section 10 of the Act in the circumstances like the present one. In fact it could be said that there was no dispute pending at the time when the reference in question was made. The only ground advanced by the respondent was that two other employees who were dismissed from service were reinstated. Under what circumstances they were dismissed and subsequently reinstated in nowhere mentioned. Demand raised by the respondent for raising an industrial dispute was ex facie bad and incompetent." The said view was followed in S.M. Nilajkar v. Telecom District Manager, (2003) 4 SCC 27, and in Asstt. Engineer, CAD v. Dhan Kunwar, (2006) 5 SCC 481. In view of the above, we are of the opinion that the findings recorded by the Tribunal that the dispute suffered from gross delay and laches, cannot be said to be suffering from illegality or irregularity which may warrant interference by this Court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction. Dismissed. (Hemant Gupta) Judge 21st October 2008. (Nawab Singh) Monika Judge