Relevant Act :
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
Decided Case Law :
Mohit Electronics & Workman Tahir Hussan (Del)
Facts of the Case :
The Labour Court directed the management for payment of wages to Workmen. Management appealed to High Court without complying the order of Labour Court.
The Writ Petition filed by the appellant was dismissed on the ground that there was non compliance of an order passed under Section 17B of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 stating that the appellant had not complied with the said order by not paying wages to the respondent from August 2008 onwards.
By Virtue of this the impugned order contempt proceedings were also initiated on the appellant.
Clarification :
The High Court did not go into the details of whether the non compliance of the order of Labour Court was intentional and / or willful and without any findings the court could not, simply because there was non compliance, dismiss the writ petition and initiate contempt proceedings.
Further, in view of clear enunciation of the settled principles, the writ petition could not have been dismissed merely because there was non compliance of an order passed under Section 17B of the said Act.
Furthermore such non compliance will not lead to initiation of contempt proceedings. The appeal is allowed and impugned order dated 18.01.2012 is set aside. The respondent has a remedy under Section 33 C (2) of the said Act.