M.Somasundaram Iyer v. The Joint Commissioner Of

BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT DATED : 25.01.2023

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MRS.JUSTICE S.SRIMATHY 1.M.Somasundaram Iyer 2.V.Arumugam 3.M.Mariappan 4.E.Murugan 5.S.Shanmugam 6.R.Gopalapothi 7.G.Krishna Iyyar 8.S.Senthil Pillai 9.M.Murugan 10.N.Subbiah Konar 11.T.R.S.Muthadi Iyer 12.Ramasamy Iyer 13.T.Lakshmi Narayanan 1/8

14.V.Nallathai Ammal 15.N.Suyambulingam 16.K.Balammal 17.S.Padmanathan Pothi 18.S.Esakkiappan 19.R.Muthukrishnan 20.V.Gnanadesigan 21.R.Chidambarnathan 22.S.Velsamy 23.Kuthalingam 24.A.Vallinayagam 25.S.Ramakrishnan 26.C.Ramasubramanian 27.P.Ammaiappan 28.R.Kadarkarai 29.M.Subramaniyan 30.P.Nainar 31.K.Padmanadhan 2/8

32.S.Chidambaram 33.S.Kottairajagopal 34.N.S.Ramasamy 35.S.Manikam 36.M.Kailasam 37.S.Venkadasubramanian 38.R.Ganapathy 39.S.Kallapiran 40.N.Subramaniya Iyyar 41.S.Vijayasingh 42.S.Thalaikkan 43.K.Sankaran 44.N.Murugesan 45.J.Thangam 46.S.Kumarasamy 47.C.Karuppaiah 48.M.Sudalai 49.S.Veeraperumal 3/8

50.T.K.Kesavapothi 51.K.Subbu Pillai 52.S.Manthiram 53.A.Murugan 54.M.Veraragavan 55.N.Krishna Vallavarayar 56.Muthulingam 57.N.Srinivasan 58.B.Rajam ... Petitioners Vs.

1.The Joint Commissioner of Labour/The Appellate Authority Under the payment of gratuity Act 1972, Madurai.

2.The Assistant Commissioner of Labour/The Controlling Authority Under the payment of gratuity Act 1972, Tirunelveli.

3.The Joint Commissioner / Executive Officer, Arulmigu Subramaniyaswamy Thirukovil, Thiruchendur, Thoothukudi District.

... Respondents 4/8

Prayer : Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying this Court to issue a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records relating to the common orders passed in P.G.A. (appeal) I.A.No.2 to 12, 14 to 28, 30, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43 to 45, 47 to 49, 51, 52, 55 to 63, 65, 67 to 69, 72 to 75 of 2014 dated 03.11.2014 on the file of the Joint Commissioner of Labour/The Appellate Authority Under the payment of gratuity Act 1972, Madurai set aside the order passed in P.G.(I.A).No.95, 118, 117, 114, 112, 100, 99, 119, 113, 97, 95, 98, 121, 120, 124, 102, 103, 126, 101, 125, 109, 116, 108, 115, 106, 110, 104, 138, 211, 207, 148, 142, 143, 130, 95, 147, 132, 150, 146, 210, 209, 135, 127, 208, 137, 143, 128, 129, 141, 95, 144, 149, 213, 148, 205, 155, 136 and 123 of 2013 dated 09.10.2013 on the file of the Assistant Commissioner of Labour/The Controlling Authority Under the payment of gratuity Act 1972, Tirunelveli and quash the same.

For Petitioners : Mr.V.Illanchezhian For R-1 and R-2 : Mr.P.Thambidurai, Government Advocate.

For R-3 : Mr.M.Muthugeethayan

ORDER

This Writ Petition is filed to quash the Common Order passed by the first respondent, who is the authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act. 5/8

2. The writ petitioners have preferred the petition before the authority claiming gratuity and the same was allowed. Aggrieved over the same, the respondents herein had preferred appeal before the appellate authority. The contention of the respondents is that the writ petitioners had filed the petition claiming gratuity belatedly and the delay is huge. Therefore, the appellate authority had allowed the appeal. Aggrieved over the same, the writ petitioners / employees had preferred this writ petition challenging the appellate authority's order. In short, the present petition is filed to condone the delay which ranges from minimum 350 days to maximum 4500 days.

3. Pending this Writ Petition, the third respondent paid the applicable gratuity to the persons who are the writ petitioners in this Writ Petition. However, it is stated that the gratuity is paid to 53 persons and the balance 5 persons either they have either died or they have not submitted any application.

4. Hence, nothing survives for adjudication. However, liberty is granted to the said five persons or to their legal heirs to make an application. Whenever such application is submitted, the same shall be considered on par with others and pass orders.

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5. Recording the said submission, this Writ Petition is closed. There shall be no order as to costs.

25.01.2023 NCC : Yes/No Index : Yes / No Internet : Yes/ No Nsr To 1.The Joint Commissioner of Labour/The Appellate Authority Under the payment of gratuity Act 1972, Madurai.

2.The Assistant Commissioner of Labour/The Controlling Authority Under the payment of gratuity Act 1972, Tirunelveli.

3.The Joint Commissioner / Executive Officer, Arulmigu Subramaniyaswamy Thirukovil, Thiruchendur, Thoothukudi District.

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S.SRIMATHY, J.

Nsr 25.01.2023 8/8