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Madras High CourtWP/32262/2018dismissed

The Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, v. The Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central),

2019-09-27Honourable Mr Justice S.M. Subramaniam9 pages

THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED : 27.09.2019

CORAM

THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM W.P.Nos.32262, 32484 & 32489 of 2018 and W.M.P.Nos.37510, 37687, 37688, 37696 & 37697 of 2018 W.P.No.32262 of 2018 The Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Photo Films Mfg.Co.Ltd., Indu Nagar, Udhagamandalam, The Nilgiris - 643 005 ..Petitioner vs 1.The Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner(Central) The Appellate Authority under A-Wing, 5th Floor, Shastri Bhavan No.26, Haddows Road, Chennai - 600 006 2.The Regional Labour Commissioner(Central) The Controlling Authority under New No.5, Old No.1-A(II Floor) Lady Doak College Road, Chinna Chockikulam, Madurai - 625 002 3.A.Raman 4.D.Chandrasekaran 5.N.Jayakumar 6.Smt.Lynda David 7.A.Jesudas 8.Smt.A.Philomina 9.M.Prabhakaran 10.Smt.L.Pankajavalli 11.Smt.Mary Philomina 12.Y.Mohammed Shaw 13.Smt.S.Maria Louis

14.G.N.Raju 15.K.Murthy 16.K.Mohan 17.A.Aruldas 18.I.Rangaraju 19.Abraham Thomas 20.B.Arjunan 21.J.R.Bojan 22.M.Sundari Bai 23.Smt.S.P.Saroja 24.B.Mani 25.M.A.Raman 26.K.B.Kari 27.B.Sivanandham 28.B.S.Bellu 29.J.M.TRhiruthuvanathan 30.Smt.Shyala John Asheer 31.Smt.Fathima Rani 32.Smt.Jayammal K.

33.K.Varadharajan 34.K.Rajamanickam 35.V.Premkumar 36.V.Raghupathy 37.Smt.Parameswari 38.D.Manickam 39.Munusamy Francis 40.S.Raj 41.L.Stephen 42.H.Abdul Khaligh 43.D.Francis Regis 44.G.Radhakrishnan 45.H.Thimman 46.G.Antony Cruz 47.V.K.Aravindakshan 48.Smt.S.Lakshmi Devi 49.S.Kamal 50.S.Arumugam 51.T.Rangan 52.C.Krishnan 53.Antony Dass 54.P.Xavier 55.T.V.Jaya Prakash 56.N.Manoharan 57.Nachimuthu 58.A.M.Rufudeen 59.Smt.D.Mariammal 60.Smt.Danapakkiam 61.E.Thomas 62.I.Palanisamy 63.K.Lalyana Sundaram

64.Smt.G.Mahita 65.R.Pethaiah 66.Smt.D.Marimuthammal 67.M.K.P.Haran 68.Smt.Feebikamala 69.Smt.K.P.B.Banu 70.S.Yeganathan 71.Smt.J.Hallan 72.K.Pappannan 73.M.Rajendran 74.K.Farook 75.B.Mathan 76.H.R.Bandary 77.Babu 78.Smt.Muthu Pankajavalli 79.M.Manohar Prasad 80.Thiyagaraj Jacob 81.B.Muthukrishnan 82.Smt.Jayammal 83.K.Balachandran 84.Gopalakrishnan 85.D.P.F.Jayaseelan 86.A.Samson 87.Smt.M.Saradha 88.V.Ramaraj 89.K.M.Madiyan 90.M.Jayaraman 91.Smt.K.P.Santha 92.B.Bellie 93.S.Lazer 94.M.Ramamoorthy 95.A.Mastan 96.R.Subramani 97.G.S.Koushik 98.T.Gandhi 99.P.Gopalan 100.A.Jayaseelan 101.B.Padmanabhan 102.Chandramohan 103.T.J.Gundan 104.Smt.S.Kamala 105.K.Subramani 106.Smt.Pushpa 107.S.Muthu 108.S.Hameed 109.V.Manickam 110.B.Mahan 111.S.Dharman 112.K.Susheela 113.S.Krishnaraj

114.K.Radhakrishnan 115.Basheer Ahmed 116.K.Raghunatha Rao 117.K.Vasu 118.N.Chinnathambi 119.K.Swaminathan 120.J.H.Halu 121.Balasubramani 122.Smt.Dhanalakshmi ..Respondents Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records relating to the order dated 31.08.2017 passed by the Regional Labour Commissioner(Central), Madurai, the Controlling Authority under the payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the 2nd respondent herein G.A.Nos.48/10 to 121, 125 to 132 of 2017 and quash the same.

(Prayer amended as per order dated 27.09.2019 in W.M.P.No.27025/2019 in W.P.No.32262/2018) W.P.No.32484 of 2018 The Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Photo Films Mfg.Co.Ltd., Indu Nagar, Udhagamandalam, The Nilgiris - 643 005 ..Petitioner vs 1.The Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner(Central) The Appellate Authority under A-Wing, 5th Floor, Shastri Bhavan No.26, Haddows Road, Chennai - 600 006 2.The Regional Labour Commissioner(Central) The Controlling Authority under New No.5, Old No.1-A(II Floor) Lady Doak College Road, Chinna Chockikulam, Madurai - 625 002 3.G.Gunaseelan 4.M.Krishnamoorthy 5.S.Vaidyanathan 6.S.Jayaraman 7.K.Gopal

8.J.Kanna 9.P.Selvaraj 10.S.Maialagan 11.Smt.K.Radha 12.J.Benjamin Jayaraj 13.P.Manoharan 14.E.Abdul Kader 15.R.Devendran 16.P.Henri 17.N.Chandran 18.V.Ganesan 19.J.Issac 20.K.Savivariraj 21.P.Nagaraj 22.A.Duraisamy 23.S.Kandasamy 24.K.Bhojaraju 25.V.Shivalingam 26.T.Gunasekaran 27.K.Selvaraju 28.P.Kanakaraj 29.M.Sundaram 30.S.Vadivel ..Respondents Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records relating to the order dated 31.08.2017 passed by the Regional Labour Commissioner(Central), Madurai, the Controlling Authority under the payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the 2nd respondent herein G.A.Nos.48/65 to 92 of 2017 and quash the same.

(Prayer amended as per order dated 27.09.2019 in W.M.P.No.27029/2019 in W.P.No.32484/2018) W.P.No.32489 of 2018 The Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Photo Films Mfg.Co.Ltd., Indu Nagar, Udhagamandalam, The Nilgiris - 643 005 ..Petitioner vs 1.The Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner(Central) The Appellate Authority under A-Wing, 5th Floor, Shastri Bhavan No.26, Haddows Road, Chennai - 600 006

2.The Regional Labour Commissioner(Central) The Controlling Authority under New No.5, Old No.1-A(II Floor) Lady Doak College Road, Chinna Chockikulam, Madurai - 625 002 3.C.Arjunan 4.R.Chandran 5.M.Sadasivam 6.A.Ranganathan 7.A.Mohamed Yakub 8.B.Krishnan 9.M.M.Thukkaram 10.E.S.Krishnamoorthy 11.P.K.Ratnamma 12.A.David Manoharan 13.R.Lalitha 14.V.Narayanan 15.A.Shajehan 16.Smt.M.Savithiri 17.V.Selvaraj 18.P.Rajan ..Respondents Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records relating to the order dated 31.08.2017 passed by the Regional Labour Commissioner(Central), Madurai, the Controlling Authority under the payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the 2nd respondent herein G.A.Nos.48/509 to 524 of 2017 and quash the same.

(Prayer amended as per order dated 27.09.2019 in W.M.P.No.27034/2019 in W.P.No.32489/2018) For Petitioner : Mr.T.R.Sathiyamohan all WPs For Respondents : R1 & R2 - Mr.J.Madana Gopal Rao Central Government Standing Counsel(CGSC) All WPs R3 to R96 & R98 to R122 - Mr.R.Santhana Raman in WP. 32262/18 R97 - Mr.S.Venugopal Raj in WP. 32262/18 R3 to R18 - Mr.V.Sivakumar in WP. 32489/18 R3 to R30 - Mr.V.Sivakumar in WP. 32484/18

C O M M O N O R D E R The orders passed by the 2nd respondent in proceedings dated 31.08.2017 passed in G.A.Nos.48/10 to 121, 125 to 132 of 2017, G.A.Nos.48/65 to 92 of 2017, G.A.Nos.48/509 to 524 of 2017are sought to be quashed in the present writ petitions.

2. The writ petitioner is Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Company Limited. In nutshell, the writ petitioner preferred an appeal under Section 7 read with Rule 18 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, challenging the orders passed by the Controlling Authority on 31.08.2017 under the Payment of Gratuity Act in G.A.No.48/10 to 132/2017, G.A.No.48/65 to 92/2017 and G.A.No.48/509 to 524 of 2017. The appeal filed by the writ petitioner under Section 7 of the Payment of Gratuity Act was returned by the Appellate Authority / 1st respondent in proceedings dated 28.11.2017 on the ground that (i) The Demand Draft or Certificate issued by the Controlling Authority for depositing the awarded gratuity amount is not enclosed.

(ii) The Appeals should be preferred individually.

3. In respect of each Gratuity Appeal, instead of complying with the defects, the writ petitioner has chosen to file the present writ petitions, raising certain merits and the same cannot be adjudicated in the present writ petitions. Once an appeal is filed before the Appellate Authority under Section 7 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, the requirements as contemplated under the Act is to be complied with, which is mandatory.

4. In the present cases on hand, the Appellate Authority returned the appeal papers, directing the writ petitioner to comply with the requirements. Thus, the writ petitioner is bound to comply with the requirements and consequently, the Appellate Authority has to number the appeal, adjudicate the same by affording an opportunity to all the parties and decide on merits and in accordance with law.

5. Proviso to Section 7 of the Payment of Gratuity Act enumerates that "Provided further that no appeal by an employer shall be admitted unless at the time of preferring the appeal, the appellant either produces a certificate of the controlling authority to the effect that the appellant has deposited with him an amount equal to the amount of gratuity required to be deposited under subsection (4), or deposits with the appellate authority such amount."

6. This being the mandatory provision for the purpose of entertaining an appeal by the Appellate Authority, the same cannot be dispensed with by the 1st respondent Appellate Authority. Thus, there is no infirmity in respect of the order dated 28.11.2017, returning the appeal papers to the writ petitioner for compliance.

7. By way of an amendment of Prayer in the present writ petitions, the petitioner has now sought for to quash the order dated 31.08.2017 issued by the Controlling Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. When the petitioner himself had already preferred appeals before the Appellate Authority, and the said appeals have been returned for compliance of certain requirements, this Court cannot adjudicate the correctness of the order dated 31.08.2017 on merits. This apart, the petitioner is bound to exhaust the statutory remedy available under the provisions of the Gratuity Act before approaching the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. When the appeal has already been preferred by the petitioner before the Appellate Authority, this Court cannot adjudicate the merits and the demerits of the issues by appreciating the evidences and documents in the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Thus, all such issues are to be adjudicated before the Appellate Authority by producing documents and by adducing evidences.

8. In this view of the matter, the writ petitioner is at liberty to comply with the requirements in consonance with the provisions of the Act and Rules and if the requirements are complied with, then the 1st respondent shall taken the appeal on file and hear the matters by following the procedures as contemplated.

9. Thus, the writ petitioner has failed to establish any acceptable ground for the purpose of assailing the orders impugned and consequently, the writ petitions are devoid of merits and stand dismissed. However, there shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.

Sd/- Assistant Registrar (CS-VI) //True Copy// Sub Assistant Registrar Kak

To 1.The Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner(Central) The Appellate Authority under A-Wing, 5th Floor, Shastri Bhavan No.26, Haddows Road, Chennai - 600 006 2.The Regional Labour Commissioner(Central) The Controlling Authority under New No.5, Old No.1-A(II Floor) Lady Doak College Road, Chinna Chockikulam, Madurai - 625 002 +3cc to Mr.T.R.Sathiyamohan, Advocate, S.R.No.83420, 83419, 83471 +2cc to Mr.V.Sivakumar, Advocate, S.R.No. 83744, 83743 +1cc to Mr.J.Madanagopal, Advocate, S.R.No. 83798 +1cc to Mr.M.Santhanaraman, Advocate, S.R.No. 83302 W.P.Nos.32262, 32484 & 32489 of 2018 RK(CO) GN(08/11/2019)