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V G Jagdishan vs M/s. Indfos Industries Private Limited

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 434Decided 19 Apr 2022
Civil Appeal No. 2976 of 2022
M.R. Shah · B.V. Nagarathna

Background

The appellant worked as a driver for the respondent company at its Ghaziabad office, where he was employed, worked throughout, and was eventually terminated. After his termination, he moved to Delhi and sent a demand notice challenging the termination to the company's Delhi head office, then raised an industrial dispute before the Labour Court at Delhi. The Labour Court, and subsequently a Single Judge and a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, all held that the Delhi Labour Court had no territorial jurisdiction since the entire cause of action (employment, work, and termination) had occurred at Ghaziabad.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court agreed with the lower forums, holding that merely because the workman shifted to Delhi after termination and sent his demand notice from there, or because the company's head office was in Delhi, no part of the cause of action arose in Delhi. Relying on its earlier ruling in Eastern Coalfields Ltd. v. Kalyan Banerjee, the Court reiterated that jurisdiction follows the place where the employment, work, and termination actually occurred, not the location of a company's head office or where a demand notice happens to be sent from. It also held that the Labour Court was correct to decide the territorial jurisdiction question as a preliminary issue before going into the merits, distinguishing this from cases where part of the cause of action genuinely arose in two different places. The appeal was dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

In an industrial/labour dispute, the workman must generally approach the Labour Court where he was employed, worked, and was terminated, moving residence or sending a legal notice from a different city afterward does not shift jurisdiction to that new location, even if the employer's head office happens to be there.

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

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