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Mangilal Jatav v. Union of India and Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 729 of 2016)Decided 21 Nov 2016
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 729 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

A workman, Mangilal Jatav, had been awarded compensation of Rs. 1 lakh by the Central Government Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, Jabalpur, on 06.05.2016. The award remained unpaid, and his representation dated 02.06.2016 seeking its enforcement was still pending with the respondent authorities. He approached the Supreme Court directly under Article 32 seeking a direction to dispose of his representation, reinstate him, and pay the awarded compensation.

Decision Breakdown

The Court observed that it would not normally entertain a writ petition of this kind directly under Article 32, but made an exception given the peculiar facts, particularly that an award for payment of compensation had simply gone unhonoured while a representation sat pending. The Court disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the competent authority to take appropriate action to honour the award (provided it has otherwise attained finality) within one month of being furnished a copy of the judgment and the writ petition.

Lesson Learnt

An employer or authority cannot indefinitely sit on a labour tribunal's compensation award simply by leaving a representation unanswered: courts can and will step in to enforce payment within a fixed timeframe once the award has attained finality.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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