COPC No. 963 of 2015 in LPA No. 4053 of 2013. Case: General Secretary/Pradhan, Employees Union Central Cooperative Consumer Store Vs K.C. Chaman. Himachal Pradesh High Court
| Case Number | COPC No. 963 of 2015 in LPA No. 4053 of 2013 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: J.L. Bhardwaj, Advocate and For Respondents: Ranjana Parmar, Senior Advocate and Rashmi Thakur, Advocate |
| Judges | Mansoor Ahmad Mir, C.J. and Tarlok Singh Chauhan, J. |
| Issue | Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1968 - Section 72 |
| Judgement Date | March 06, 2017 |
| Court | Himachal Pradesh High Court |
Judgment:
Tarlok Singh Chauhan, J.
-
This contempt petition has been filed against the respondent for his alleged willful disobedience of the directions passed by this Court in LPA No. 4053 of 2013 whereby according to them the members of the petitioner-Union were held entitled to the service benefits at par with the regular employees of the H.P. State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers Federation Ltd., Shimla (for short the 'Federation'). However, before adverting to the directions passed by this Court, it would be necessary to recapitulate the facts.
CWP No. 342 of 2008
-
The petitioner-Union comprises of the employees of the erstwhile Central Cooperative Consumers Store, Shimla (for short 'Consumer Store'), which currently is under liquidation. The Consumer Store requested the H.P. State Cooperative Marketing and Consumers Federation Ltd. Shimla (for short 'Federation') to take up the services of the members of the petitioner-Union for procurement and distribution of control articles vide letter dated 10.6.1994. The Federation vide its letter dated 18.6.1994 agreed to utilize 12 shops only for management purpose alongwith 18 workers (10 salesmen and 8 helpers). Condition No. 4 of the aforesaid letter stipulated as under:
4. The workers employed in the running of these 12 shops will remain on your roll and Himfed will make payment of their salaries through you at the present pay scale being drawn by each worker.
-
Aggrieved by the aforesaid condition, the members of the petitioner-Union raised a dispute by invoking Section 72 of the Himachal Pradesh Cooperative Societies Act, 1968 (hereinafter referred to as 'Act'). The same came to be decided by the Deputy Registrar (Administration) vide his order dated 26.7.2003 wherein it was held that there was no clause in the letter dated 18.6.1994 (supra) by virtue of which the financial benefits to the petitioners could be frozen. Meaning thereby, he held the members of the petitioner-Union to be entitled to revised pay scale without arrears of revised pay scales.
-
The employer i.e. Federation assailed this order by filing an appeal before the Additional Secretary (Cooperation), who allowed the payment of arrears and allowances to the members of the petitioner-Union in the existing running pay scale from 25.9.1998. The plea of the Federation that the arrears of pay be restricted to three years was also rejected vide order dated 3.12.2005. This order of Additional Secretary (Cooperation) was assailed by the Federation by means of CWP No. 272 of 2006. The same was decided on 21.6.2007 and the matter was remanded back to the Additional Secretary (Cooperation) for adjudication. The Joint Secretary (Cooperation) decided the appeal on 3.12.2007 whereby he held that the emoluments of pay under the then pay scales could not be withheld to the members of the petitioner-Union and directed the payment of dearness allowance and other consequential benefits which these members were already getting on the date of agreement to be continued to be paid to them. However, they were not entitled to future dearness allowance etc. at par with the employees of the Federation. The prayer of the petitioner-Union to their entitlement of revised pay scale was also rejected.
-
Aggrieved by the aforesaid decision, the petitioner filed CWP No. 342 of 2008 claiming therein the regular pay scale at par with the employees of the Federation with arrears of consequential benefits like arrears of dearness allowance and other benefits etc.
CWP No. 1001 of 2008
-
This writ petition was filed by the Federation wherein it too assailed the order passed by the Joint Secretary (Cooperation) on 3.12.2007 on the ground that the petitioners were only entitled to the rates as per agreement dated 18.6.1994 (supra) and were not entitled to annual increments.
CWP No. 5030 of 2010
-
The petitioner-Union had earlier raised an industrial dispute vide Reference No. 32 of 2001 wherein they laid claim to their entitlement to new pay scales with effect from 1.10.1999 at par with the employees of the Federation alongwith all admissible benefits. The same was answered in their favour vide award dated 15.6.2010, which was assailed by the Federation by way of CWP No. 5030 of 2010.
-
All the three petitions came to be decided by learned writ Court by way of common judgment dated 3.4.2012. CWP No. 342 of 2008 and CWP No. 1001 of 2008 were ordered to be dismissed, whereas CWP No. 5030 of 2010 was allowed and the award passed by the learned Labour Court dated 15.6.2010 was ordered to be set-aside. However, it was clarified that the petitioners would be entitled to all the monetary benefits which were being...
To continue reading
Request your trial