Ghaziabad Zila Sahkari Bank Ltd vs Addl. Labour Commissioner & Ors

On 14/17.02.2001, Secretary wrote to the Chairman to refer to the Board of Directors resolutions dated 13.01.2001 and 3.2.2001 to the Registrar. The Chairman failed to do so. Hence, the Secretary himself referred the matter to the Registrar under Rule 130.

In view of the aforesaid provision, it is crystal clear that for giving pecuniary benefits or allowances to the employees governed by the aforesaid Regulations, 1975, the Registrar's general or special order is necessary and if the particular Cooperative Society wants to grant the benefit, then it can be given only with the permission of the Registrar. Admittedly, in the present case, no permission was ever sought from the Registrar, rather on the contrary, action was taken contrary to the circulars issued by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, U.P. issued from time to time, prohibiting payment of ex-gratia in this regard.

In view of the aforesaid legal provisions and the reply furnished by the petitioner, the Respondent No. 1 had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter of employees with regard to the payment of ex-gratia amount which runs contrary to the Regulation 42 of the Service Regulations, 1975 as well as the Circulars issued by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies, U.P. and the Additional Registrar (Banking), Cooperative Societies U.P. and the only forum for adjudication for sake of arguments and without admitting that the matter ought to have been referred to the Labour Court for adjudicating the aforesaid matter, and that too, if the Industrial Laws are made applicable to the provisions of U.P. Cooperative Societies Act, 1965.

(a) decide the dispute himself, or

(b) refer it for decision to an arbitrator appointed by him, or

(3) The Registrar, the arbitrator or the board of arbitrators, to whom a dispute is referred for decision under this section may, pending the decision of the dispute make such interlocutory orders including attachment of property as he or they may deem necessary in the interest of justice.

(4) The decision given by the Registrar, the arbitrator or the board of arbitrators under this section shall hereinafter be termed as award.

Since payment of ex-gratia amount of the employees of the bank is a policy matter, the State Government of U.P. has filed Special Leave Petition before this Court questioning the correctness of the orders passed by the High Court for the leave of this Court. The impugned judgment of the High Court suffers from the error of complete non-application of mind on the merits of the case in as much as whole pleadings either before the Commissioner and before the High Court was that the payment of ex-gratia to the employees are against the objects of the society and it is in contravention of the provisions of the U.P. Act, 1947, rules and regulations, we have no other option to set aside the same and allow both the appeals filed by the bank as well as the State of U.P. as already indicated in the paragraphs above. The payments already made need not be recovered at this distance of time from the employees of the bank. However we make it clear that the employees are not entitled to ex-gratia payment from now onwards. In the facts and circumstances, we order no costs.