Gujarat High Court
Hotel Green View vs Pritika Pavan Sharma on 24 November, 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/3349/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/11/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 3349 of 2024
FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK
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Approved for Reporting Yes No
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HOTEL GREEN VIEW
Versus
PRITIKA PAVAN SHARMA
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Appearance:
MR YOGI K GADHIA(5913) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MS SIMRAN PAHWA FOR THAKKAR AND PAHWA ADVOCATES(1357) for
the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M.
PRACHCHHAK
Date : 24/11/2025
ORAL JUDGMENT
1. Present petition is filed by the petitioner - Company under Article 226 & 227 of the Constitution of India read with the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter be referred to as "the Act") challenging the impugned judgment and award dated 20.09.2019 passed by the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Valsad in Reference (LCV) No. 72 of 2016, whereby, the learned Judge had directed the petitioner to reinstate the respondent-workman on her original post with continuity of service and 100% backwages. The petitioner has further challenged the judgment and order dated 25.08.2023 passed by the Labour Court, Valsad in Misc. (Restoration) Application No. 186 of 2021, whereby, the restoration application Page 1 of 5 Uploaded by DOLLY CHETAN VADUKAR(HC01392) on Wed Nov 26 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Nov 26 21:18:10 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/3349/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/11/2025 undefined came to be rejected.
2. Brief facts leading to the present petition are that, the petitioner is an inoperative hotel and the respondent approached the Labour Commissioner stating that she was 31 years old and she was working as a receptionist with the petitioner since 01.08.2008 and was terminated orally on 03.11.2015 without any plausible reason and without following the due process of law, which culminated in the Reference (LCV) No. 72 of 2016, wherein the respondent filed her Statement of Claims and improvised on the termination by stating that she was not paid salary for the months of September, 2015 and October, 2015 and upon demanding the same, the petitioner terminated her orally. That, the petitioner was facing various legal cases before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and various other courts. That, the responsible officer of the petitioner had also passed away hence, the notice of the Court did not reach the responsible officer, which led to closing of stages before the Labour Court and ultimately an ex parte award came to be passed on 20.09.2019, published on 08.11.2019. That, the petitioner came to know about the same on 03.01.2020 and then approached the Labour Court by way of filing Misc. (Delay) Application No. 17 of 2020 and Misc. Application for restoration of the main reference vide Application dated 15.03.2020 after receipt of certified copy of the record and getting legal guidance. That, the Labour Court condoned the delay by imposing cost of Rs. 7,500/- vide Order dated 01.10.2021. That, the petitioner filed a detailed application in the Misc (Restoration) Application No. 186 of 2021 inter alia mentioning the reasons for non-appearance, produced all the documents in support of contentions including the brief summary of litigations between 2013 to 2020, notices under the SARFAESI Act whereby, possession was taken, matters before the Page 2 of 5 Uploaded by DOLLY CHETAN VADUKAR(HC01392) on Wed Nov 26 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Nov 26 21:18:10 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/3349/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/11/2025 undefined Hon'ble Supreme Court, Orders for hearing the matters of the petitioner expeditiously etc., however, the Labour Court took a hyper technical view and arrived at a finding that the action of the petitioner was unforgivable and accordingly, rejected the restoration Application without dealing with the contentions raised by the petitioner vide order dated 25.08.2023.
3. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with the Award passed in Reference and the order passed in Misc. (Restoration) Application No. 186 of 2021, the petitioner has preferred this petition.
4. Heard Mr. Yogi Gadhia, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Ms. Simran Pahwa, learned counsel appearing for the respondent.
5. Learned counsel Mr. Gadhia has submitted that an ex-parte Award was passed by the Labour Court without affording proper opportunity to the petitioner to defend the case. He has submitted that in the delay condone application, the Labour Court had imposed cost of Rs.7,500/-, which was already deposited by the petitioner and the same was withdrawn by the respondent. He has further submitted that the petitioner has also deposited an amount of Rs.15,000/- before this Court towards cost, as per the order passed by this Court, which is lying with the Registry of this Court. Learned counsel Mr. Gadhia has therefore, urged that the impugned Award and the order passed by the Labour Court be quashed and set aside and the present petition be allowed.
6. As against that, learned counsel Ms. Simran Pahwa, appearing for the respondent, has strongly and vehemently opposed the present Page 3 of 5 Uploaded by DOLLY CHETAN VADUKAR(HC01392) on Wed Nov 26 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Nov 26 21:18:10 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/3349/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/11/2025 undefined petition and submitted that the original proceedings are of the year 2016 and since long, no payment has been received by the respondent from the petitioner and she is litigating all the way and therefore, no interference is required to be called for in the present petition and the present petition be dismissed.
7. I have heard the learned counsel appearing for the respective parties and perused the material placed on record. I have also considered the facts of the case and the impugned Award and the order passed by the Labour Court, Valsad. The fact remains that the impugned Award was passed ex-parte without affording proper opportunity to the petitioner in the proceedings which were initiated way-back in the year 2016 and therefore, petitioner is required to be heard by giving proper opportunity to defend its case and thus, the matter is required to be remanded back to the concerned Labour Court for deciding the issue afresh.
8. In the result, the present petition is partly allowed. The impugned judgment and award dated 20.09.2019 passed by the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Valsad in Reference (LCV) No. 72 of 2016 as well as the judgment and order dated 25.08.2023 passed by the Labour Court, Valsad in Misc. (Restoration) Application No. 186 of 2021 are hereby quashed and set aside. The original Reference is restored to its file. The matter is remanded back to the concerned Labour Court to decide the original Reference afresh. The same shall be decided by the Labour Court in accordance with law, within a period of six (6) months from the date of receipt of order of this Court, considering the fact that the respondent is litigating since 2016 and almost 10 years have been passed. Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid extent.
Page 4 of 5 Uploaded by DOLLY CHETAN VADUKAR(HC01392) on Wed Nov 26 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Nov 26 21:18:10 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/3349/2024 JUDGMENT DATED: 24/11/2025 undefined 8.1 It is observed that it is open for both the parties to raise all the
contentions available under the law before the concerned Labour Court and the Labour Court shall decide the same after giving ample opportunity to both the sides. It is also further observed that both the parties shall cooperate with the Labour Court and shall not seek unnecessary adjournments. If need be, the petitioner may file written statement to oppose the proceedings filed by the respondent before the Labour Court and lead documentary as well as oral evidence before the Labour Court.
8.2 The amount deposited by the petitioner shall be disbursed in favour of the respondent alongwith interest accrued on it, through Account Payee cheque in favour of the respondent, after following due procedure and after verifying her bank details.
Direct service is permitted.
(HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK,J) Dolly Page 5 of 5 Uploaded by DOLLY CHETAN VADUKAR(HC01392) on Wed Nov 26 2025 Downloaded on : Wed Nov 26 21:18:10 IST 2025