Delhi High Court said the civic body should come forward to aid and assist in dispensation of justice.
Observing that an individual cannot have the might to fight the hefty corporations, the Delhi High Court has said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as a public body should exercise restraint and caution while instituting litigations as the courts are already overburdened.
It said the civic body should come forward to aid and assist in the dispensation of justice.
The observations were made by Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma while dealing with petitions by the corporation against a Labour court order asking it to file a reply along with the relevant service record of the workmen seeking certain entitlements and benefits from it in terms of the Industrial Disputes Act.
The petitioner corporation assailed the order on the ground that it was filed in absence of any representation from the management and there was a clear violation of principles of natural justice.
Justice Sharma observed that the Industrial Disputes Act is welfare legislation whose purpose is to assist the workmen to get their disputes settled as expeditiously as possible and the labour court, in the present case, was only proceeding towards the adjudication of the application and was yet to reach any conclusion concerning the grant of relief.
Stating that the objection raised by the corporation over the order of production of the documents was “strange”, the court asserted, “the employers and particularly, the Government rather should be more responsible in such litigations” and “the corporation could have waited for the final adjudication of the matter.” “I consider that at the outset the corporation as a public body should exercise utmost restraint and caution while instituting litigations in the court. The courts are already overburdened. In the present case the application filed under Section 33-C (2) of the Act is yet to be decided by the labour court,” said the court in its recent order as it dismissed the corporation's challenge.
“The corporation which is a public body should come forward and aid and assist the court in the dispensation of justice... This court would not hesitate in saying that an individual workman cannot have the capacity or might to fight the hefty corporations. The learned labour court had merely called for the records and after seeing them merely stated that the objections which have been raised by the corporation are not maintainable,” the court stated.
The court clarified that the petitioner corporation shall have the liberty to challenge the final order if they are aggrieved of the same.
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