Vidarbha Labour Law ... vs State Of Maharashtra And Ors.
2003 Latest Caselaw 290 Bom

JUDGMENT

V.C. Daga, J.

1. This petition is in the nature of public interest. The petitioner is an association, known as the Vidarbha Labour Law Practitioners Association, Nagpur ("the petitioner Association" for short). The petitioner, association of the practicing Lawyers, being interested in the administration of justice, has preferred this petition claiming locus standi to file the petition based on the law laid down by the Apex Court in S.P. Gupta v. Union of India 1981 (Supp) SCC 87, to seek adequate judiciary infrastructure for the Labour and Industrial Courts at Nagpur and in other parts of the Region.

2. The factual matrix as stated in the petition reveal that even though the Labour and Industrial Courts are established long back, and building to house these forums, was constructed in the year 1988, but in the past 15 years, no attempt was made by the Public Works Department (PWD) of the State either to maintain the said building or to provide necessary infrastructure therein; so as to make essential facilities available to the Members of the Judiciary, Bar and litigants. A serious complaint is made by the petitioner Association that no adequate furniture; such as cupboards, racks, table and chairs have been provided to the ministerial staff working in the said Courts and Tribunals. No waiting space or room is made available for the litigants to sit. The premises are not maintained in clean and good conditions. The toilets are stinking and are maintained in a very miserable condition. The petition also makes a complaint with regard to the various unfilled vacancies existing in the various Labour and Industrial Courts. The petitioner Association is, thus, seeking appropriate order and/or direction in the nature of writ of mandamus so as to compel the State Government to discharge its legal obligation by providing necessary judiciary infrastructure for Labour and Industrial Courts.

3. This petition was placed before this Court on number of occasions. The same was heard on a number of dates. Various directions were issued from time to time so as to provide temporary relief; to the Courts, litigants, members of the legal fraternity and the ministerial staff working with the Labour and Industrial Courts. But grant of such temporary reliefs is no answer to the permanent problems brought to our notice.

4. At this juncture, it will not be out of place to mention that the Judiciary has neither power of purse, nor the power of sword, neither money, nor patronage, not even physical force to enforce its decisions. Despite this, Courts have by and large enjoyed high prestige and commanded great respect of the citizens of this Country. This is because of the moral authority of the Courts and confidence reposed in them by the people of this nation. If the Courts fail to deliver quick and quality justice, the confidence of the people of India, which this institution is enjoying, may erode. Absence of adequate administrative and judiciary infrastructure and other facilities have already affected the working culture and congenial atmosphere of the Courts and caused damage to the quality and speed of the justice delivery system.

5. This is an age of rapid transition. Slow motion justice has no place. Speed is the hallmark of the new world order. Justice delivery system is craving for Fast Track Movement. People today neither have time, nor capacity, nor patience for long wait. Such slow justice is anathema to the rule of law. Prolonged wait for justice sometimes manifests itself in recourse to extra-judicial remedies which strike at the very root of law and justice. If the adequate number of Judges are not appointed, necessary infrastructure and/or other required facilities are not provided; the Members of the Judiciary and legal fraternity will not be able to discharge their duties efficiently and effectively. If the proper infrastructure and/or adequate facilities are not made available to the persons involved in the justice dispensing system, it would not be possible for the Members of the Judiciary to fulfil the constitutional mandate.

6. At this juncture, it will not be out of place to mention that "it is too late in a day to dispute the position that the justice has to be administered through the Courts and such administration would relate to social, economic and political aspects of justice". The judiciary therefore, becomes the most prominent and outstanding wing of the Constitutional system. For its sound functioning, it is, necessary that there must be an efficient judicial system and for providing the requisite efficiency is ensuring adequate strength with necessary infrastructure. The Apex Court in the case of Subhash Sharma v. Union of India, 1991 Supp (1) SCC 574 had to issue directions to the Government to fill up the vacancy of several judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

7. The Apex Court in All India Judges Association v. Union of India, , had directed that the income from the Court Fees should be spent from the Administration of Justices and issued various directions including a provision for working library at the residence of every judicial officer by June 30, 1992.

8. In spite of the specific directions issued by the Apex Court, the same have not yet been complied with in toto in its true letter and spirit by the Central and various State Governments. Even today the residential accommodation to every Judicial Officer has yet not been provided. Some of them are required to stay in rented accommodation. In number of the towns, even the Courts are housed in a rented premises. In some of the cases, the suits, filed by the landlords of the premises, for recovery of arrears of rent; are required to be kept pending for years together only because suit is filed in the Court of the same Presiding Officer, who himself is occupying that residential accommodation. Even working library to every Judicial Officer was to be provided but as yet in most of the places no such facilities have been made available.

9. The control over the subordinate judiciary has been vested in the High Court yet purse being with the Government in certain aspects the administrative side of the judiciary is required to rely upon the State Government to provide necessary infrastructure and basic required facilities to the Judges for dispensing justice in co-operation with the ministerial staff of the Courts and tribunals. The finances are controlled by the State Government. The development of the judicial wing of the State is the last priority in the list of the State Government. The Government thinks that the purse exclusively belongs to it. They think that they are the boss of all finances. They must remain alive to the requirements of this branch of the administration, one of the corner stone of the democracy. Of the three organs of Government, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, political commentators consider judiciary the weakest. And yet, in the scheme of the written constitution such as ours, the judiciary in the last resort is the guarantor of the democracy and protector of basic rights of an average citizen. And for the judiciary to fulfil its role, it is necessary for it to have required adequate infrastructure so that their smooth, efficient working and their independence from any extraneous influence, howsoever high is ensured.

10. The Government must realise that there is acute shortage of Judges at the trial Courts. The anxiety of all concerned quick dispensation of justice has been sufficiently stated by the Apex Court in the case of All India Judges' Association (cited supra) in the following words :--

"An independent and efficient judicial system is one of the basic structures of our Constitution. If sufficient number of judges are not appointed, justice would not be available to the people, thereby undermining the basic structure. It is well known that justice delayed is justice denied. Time and again the inadequacy in the number of judges has adversely been commented upon. Not only have the Law Commission and the standing committee of Parliament made observations in this regard, but even the head of the judiciary, namely, the Chief Justice of India has had more occasions than once to make observations in regard thereto. Under the circumstances, we feel it is our constitutional obligation to ensure that the backlog of the cases is decreased and efforts are made to increase the disposal of cases. Apart from the steps which may be necessary for increasing the efficiency of the judicial officers, we are of the opinion that time has now come for protecting one of the pillars of the Constitution, namely, the judicial system, by directing increase, in the circumstance, in the judge strength from the existing ratio of 10.5 or 13 per 10 lakhs people to 50 judges for 10 lakh people. We are conscious of the fact that overnight these vacancies cannot be filled. In order to have additional judges, not only the posts will have to be created but infrastructure required in the form of additional Court rooms, building, staff, etc. would also have to be made available. We are also aware of the fact that a large number of vacancies as of today from amongst the sanctioned strength remain to be filled. We, therefore, first direct that the existing vacancies in the subordinate Courts at all levels should be filled, if possible, latest by 31st March, 2003, in all the States. The increase in the judge strength to 50 judges per 10 lakh people should be effected and implemented with the filling up of the posts in a phased manner to be determined and directed by the Union Ministry of Law, but this process should be completed and the increased vacancies and posts filled within a period of five years from today. Perhaps increasing the judge strength by 10 per 10 lakh people every year could be one of the methods which may be adopted thereby completing the first stage within five years before embarking on further increase if necessary."

The following observation of Seven Judges Bench in a recent decision P. Ramchandra Rao v. State of Karnataka, are also relevant:

"A perception of the cause for delay at the trial and in conclusion of criminal proceedings is necessary so as to appreciate whether setting up bars of limitation entailing termination of trial or proceedings can be justified. The root cause for delay in dispensation of justice in our country is poor judge-population ratio. Law Commission of India in its 120th report on man power planning in Judiciary (July 1987), based on its survey, regretted that in spite of Article 39(A) added as a major Directive Principle in the Constitution by 42nd amendment (1976), obliging the State to secure such operation of legal system as it promotes justice and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen. Several reorganization proposals in the field of administration of justice in India have been basically patch work, ad hoc and unsystematic solutions to the problem. The judge-population-ratio in India (based on 1971 census) was only 10.5 judges per million population while such ratio was 41.6 in Australia, 50.9 in England, 75.2 in Canada and 107 in United States. The Law Commission suggested that India required 107 Judges per million of Indian population; however to begin with the judge strength needed to be raised to five-fold, i.e. 50 judges per million population in a period of five years but in any case not going beyond ten years. Touch of said sarcasm is difficult to hide when the Law Commission observed (in its 120th report, ibid) that adequate reorganization of the Indian Judiciary is at the one and at the same time everybody's concern and, therefore, nobody's concern."

The subordinate judiciary is also made to work without basic amenities and infrastructure. Ignoring the fact that they have onerous job to discharge. There cannot be independent and efficient judicial system, which is one of the basic structures of the constitution, in absence of necessary and adequate judiciary infrastructure. A few paragraphs from the book "Judges" by David Pannick which are often quoted need to be set out here :

'The judge has burdensome responsibilities to discharge. He has power over the lives and livelihood of all those litigants who enter his Court. His decisions may well affect the interests of individuals and groups who are not present or represented in Court. If he is not careful, the judge may precipitate a civil war or he may accelerate a revolution. He may accidentally cause a peaceful but fundamental change in the political complexion of the country."

If such is a role of a Judge and if he is made to work without adequate required facility and infrastructure, what would be the ultimate consequences? In the process, the consumer of justice, the litigants would be the real victims of the Government's neglect and judicial delays. The Government should not think that by providing adequate funds to judiciary, they are doing any charity. By appointing enough staff members and granting funds the Government is only fulfilling its constitutional obligations. It is seen that the Government is unable to distinguish between the State and the Government. The Government is one of the organs of the State. It is high time that Government must show change in its thinking and attitude and stop giving stepmotherly treatment to the judiciary.

11. Thus considering the apathy on the part of the Government, we think it has become necessary to issue certain directions to the State Government to make available basic infrastructure and other facilities so as to provide better working conditions and to maintain congenial atmosphere in the Courts; which will definitely go a long way to improve efficiency of the staff working with Judiciary; and to provide some succor to the litigants and members of the Bar.

12. With a view to carve out the area of the problems in question, this Court was pleased to appoint Mr. J. H. Bhatia. Additional Registrar (Inspection), High Court, Bombay, a Senior-Judicial Officer, having sufficient experience of a judicial administration to inquire into the affairs and functioning of the Industrial and Labour Courts at Nagpur, and submit his report considering all the aspects of the matters including requirement of number of staff, infrastructure for litigants, lawyers and the necessary facilities required to be provided in the Court rooms, Court precinct and premises wherein these Courts are housed.

13. Mr. J. H. Bhatia, Additional Registrar (Inspection), High Court of Bombay, Mumbai has submitted his report to this Court, vide his letter dated 11th November 2002. His report deals mainly with the following amongst other aspects of the matter:--

(a)     Court Building and its maintenance.
 

(b)    Furniture and other Infrastructure.
 

(c)     Staff.
 

(d)    Workload and strength of Judges.
 

(e)     Investiture of Powers under different Industrial laws.
 

(f)     Provision for Office Expenses. 
 

14. Let us turn to consider the report to find out necessity of issuing necessary directions to the State Government. We propose to deal with and consider each item in the same order in which it was reported by Mr. Bhatia, the details of which are reproduced in para-12 supra, (a) Court Building and its maintenance :--
 

15. The report states that at present, all the three Labour Courts and Four Industrial Tribunals are functioning in the new building located at Temple road, Civil Lines, Nagpur. Even though the area of the Court building is quite spacious, no care has been taken by P.W.D. for its maintenance. For years, the building has not been repaired and painted, though it was expected to be painted with distemper and white wash every three years. Even though the building was constructed in 1988, the second floor of the building has not been painted and white washed even once. All the windows of the Court rooms, chambers, offices have only glass pane without any iron grills. The possibility of the miscreants easily breaking open the glass panes to force their entry into any part of the building cannot be ruled out.

16. The report further points out that there are several cracks in the walls of the chambers of the Judges. The door frames of the Chambers are in a broken condition. The Stenographers have no separate rooms to sit and work. They are required to share the chamber with the Judges by using a cloth curtains. Such bad working atmosphere in the Court premises is bound to affect the justice delivery system adversely. The root cause of the problem is negligence on the part of the State Government to provide adequate finances to the Law and Judiciary Department of the State.

17. The report of Mr. Bhatia is an eye opener. The immediate directions to the State Government in this behalf are necessary. As such, we direct Public Works Department of the State (PWD) to take immediate steps to effect necessary repairs to the Court building, replace the broken doors, if any, and to provide and make available separate sitting arrangement for the Stenographers, to fix iron grills in all the windows and to paint and white wash the building immediately. The regular periodical maintenance to the building is very much necessary. In order to fulfil this object we direct that the Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department or any other officer in-charge of the maintenance of the building in question shall inspect and supervise the building and Court rooms, Bar Rooms, waiting and sitting place meant for litigants including Court precinct in presence of Senior Judge of the Industrial Court (Posted at Nagpur) accompanied by the Superintendent of the Industrial Court at Nagpur with the President of the petitioner Association at the end of every six months and after the inspection, he shall take steps to provide repairs and other facilities as may be required within next three months from the date of joint inspection. Needless to mention that the detailed minutes of the joint inspection shall be maintained by the Executive Engineer and one copy thereof shall be kept with the Senior Judge of the Industrial Court at Nagpur who shall forward copy thereof to the Additional Registrar of the High Court Bench at Nagpur for reference and record with his comments with regard to the compliance of the requirements and complimentary copy thereof shall also be handed over to the President of the petitioner Association for reference and record. In the event, the requirements shown in the joint inspection report or note are not complied with, it would be open for the petitioner Association to seek implementation there of in accordance with law.

(b) Furniture and other Infrastructure :--

18. The report of Mr. Bhatia further states that the furniture provided in the Court is utterly insufficient. The lack of furniture gives very poor and shabby picture of the Court halls. Large numbers of litigants daily pay visit to the Courts. However, there is no separate provision for Advocates, representatives of the Labour Unions, and the litigants. Lot of inconvenience is caused to them. For want of sufficient iron racks, almirahs and Cupboards, the Courts records cannot be maintained properly. The sitting benches are used for dumping the records. In every Court room only one bench is available for Advocates, litigants and others. All of them are required to sit together. Dignity of the legal profession requires separate; decent arrangement for lawyers to sit in the Court rooms. In spite of best efforts on the part of the members of petitioner Bar Association and the Office of the Industrial and Labour Court to persuade the State Government, the State Government did not bother to provide sufficient chairs and benches which is the minimum requirement in the present era of information technology. The Bar Association was required to provide moulded chairs in each Court room to provide sitting facilities to the litigants and the lawyers.

19. In spite of the Government's administrative approval to provide furniture for the Industrial and Labour Courts as per G. R. No. ICI-1101/PK/8823/Kamgar 6, dated 19-11-2001 issued by the Industries, Energy and Labour Department of the Government of Maharashtra, hardly furniture worth Rs. 1,15,000/- was agreed to be provided out of total required furniture worth Rs. 4,78,000/- for Labour Court at Nagpur. However, for want of budgetary provisions, the said furniture has not yet been provided though fresh proposal in this behalf has been submitted to provide funds. In spite of this, so far no provision has been made; with the result in spite of administrative approval and the G. R. dated 19-12.-2001, no furniture has been provided for the Industrial and Labour Courts at Nagpur. It appears that in the State Government nobody has time to look after these problems of the judiciary.

20. The report of Mr. Bhatia further states that records of the pending matters are simply dumped on the floors of the Court rooms and offices, for want of sufficient almirahs and racks. Similarly, disposed of records are also dumped in different rooms like heap of rubble. It is very difficult to trace out the records, if required. Apart from the fact that it gives shabby picture of the record room. It is not possible to keep the rooms clean and dust-free. At present, each Labour Court is provided with only two almirahs, which are absolutely insufficient for keeping the pending records. No provision is to be found for almirahs and racks for the Labour Courts in the G. R. dated 19-12-2001. No sufficient Books Shelves are provided. For want of space in the available racks and almirahs, books are kept on the top of the almirahs. The picture of infrastructure for the Industrial Courts is not different than what is described above, with respect to the Labour Courts. The Industrial Courts are not provided with adequate English and Marathi typewriters. Some of the typewriters have outlived its life but still they are being used without providing any maintenance to them. The Industrial Courts at Nagpur are in dire need of English and Marathi typewriters including monthly maintenance contract to keep the typewriters in working condition.

21. This Court cannot overlook the inaction on the part of the State Government and cannot brush aside their negligence in this behalf. We, therefore, issue directions to the State Government to supply furniture, as indicated by of Mr. J.H. Bhatia in his report, within 3 months from today. If necessary, the State Government may have to immediately release the funds for purchase of furniture approved as per G. R. dated 19-12-2001.

(c) Staff:--

22. For Industrial Court, Nagpur, one post of Investigating Officer and three posts of Assistant Registrars were created. Post of Investigating Officer is lying vacant since August, 1990. The additional charge of that post for sometime was with the Assistant Registrar. However, out of 3 posts of Assistant Registrar, one has been transferred to the Industrial Court, Akola. One post lapsed long ago and finally, one Assistant Registrar retired in the month of March, 2002 and that post has yet been not filled in by the Government. The additional charge of the post of Assistant Registrar is with one Smt. Kulkarni, C.O.C. of the first Judge of the Industrial Court at Nagpur. Charge of Investigating Officer as on date is not with any staff member. In fact, the C.O.C. is required to work as Bench Clerk in the Court and therefore, Smt. Kulkarni cannot discharge the duties of the Assistant Registrar in addition to her regular duties as Bench Clerk. The presence of Assistant Registrar is absolutely essential for the proper administration in the office. Post of Investigating Officer is also essential for the proper implementation of the Industrial Laws. Therefore, it is, absolutely, essential to fill up the post of one Assistant Registrar and one Investigating Officer immediately.

23. Besides the above two posts, following posts are also lying vacant in the Labour Court and Industrial Court:--

Clerk

-1 Bailiffs -

Steno-Clerk

-1 Peons -

Stenotypists

- 4 Naik-

As there is no post of Superintendent for the Labour Courts at Nagpur, there is no supervisory post to look after the day to day and routine administrative work. As the Judges have to work in the Court for the whole day, they cannot be expected to look after every administrative work. Due to absence of the post of Assistant Registrar in the Industrial Court and the post of Superintendent in the Labour Court, it appears that no attention has been paid to the administrative side of the Court working, the report further states the old records which are due for destruction, are not destroyed. In some of the rooms in possession of the Industrial and Labour Courts, the waste papers are simply dumped arid the space is being wasted. No attention is being paid to the cleanliness of the building.

Therefore, the report of Mr. Bhatia suggests that it is absolutely essential to have a post of one Superintendent for the Labour Courts.

24. The Government has created two posts of the part time Sweepers; one for Industrial Court and one for Labour Court. Each of them is paid only Rs. 140/- p.m. and is expected to work for 4 hours daily. With such meager wages, it is difficult to expect them to work hard for 4 hours continuously. In the result, many parts of the building are not kept clean. Taking into consideration the size of the building and the number of Courts and Tribunals, it will be desirable to have two additional full time Sweepers; one for Industrial Court and one for Labour Court. We in the above premises, direct the State Government that the posts indicated in the report of Mr. J.H. Bhatia should also be filled in within 3 months and necessary process in this behalf should be initiated within one month from today, without putting an excuse that the State Government is reeling under serious financial crisis and that there is a freeze on recruitments.

(d) Workload and Strength of Judges :--

25. The report of Mr. Bhatia is Annexure (1) thereof gives the data with regard to the Institution, disposal, pendency, the present strength of Judges and average pendency per Judge in the Industrial Courts in the State of Maharashtra. It reveals that while the average pendency per Judge in the State is 1498 matters, at Bombay per Judge pendency is only 926 and there are 8 Judges for total pendency of 7404 matters, on the other hand, at Nagpur total pendency is 11,055 matters and there are only 4 Judges with the result, the per Judge pendency is 2814, which is almost double the State average. The figures will reveal that at Pune, for 1461 matters, there are 4 Judges. Thus, per Judge pendency is 365. The statement will also reveal that pendency at Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Akola and Aurangabad is heavy for the Judges considering the number of Judges provided for such Industrial Courts.

26. Annexure (2) of the report reveals that the average pendency per Judge of the Labour Court in the State is 2297. At Bombay, there are 12 Judges for 16,854 matters and the workload per Judge is 1405 matters. On the other hands, at Nagpur for 14645 matters there are only 3 Judges and the workload per Judge is 4882, which is much or even double than the State average. At Pune also, the workload per Judge of the Labour Court is almost double of the State average. At Kolhapur also, pendency is very high for single Judge.

27. Mr. Bhatia has collected all the information from the President, Industrial Court, Bombay about the availability of the Court halls. He has also seen some of the Court buildings at Nagpur. His report shows that there are two big halls available in the building, which are not fully utilized. In the one hall, there is one table with three chairs only. In the second hall, a few staff members of the Labour Courts are working. The report of Mr. Bhatia suggests that two halls can be conveniently converted into Court halls by preparing necessary dais and chambers. Report further states that the Court hall of Shri V.B. Deshmukh, Judge, Industrial Court, is almost double of the size of normal Court hall. Presently, by using a cloth curtain, a part of that hall is being used by the staff. In fact, it gives a shabby picture. It also causes inconvenience in the working of the Court. The report suggests that this hall can be divided into two by putting a partition wall and by constructing a chamber and dais, one additional Court hall will be available. At the ground floor of the old building also, one Court hall can be prepared. In fact, prior to construction of new building, all the Courts were working in the old building. Thus report suggests that four additional Court halls can be conveniently made available in the premises of the Industrial and Labour Courts, Nagpur.

28. The report also suggests that two Judges of the Industrial Court with staff may be shifted from Bombay to Nagpur. It is reported that from Pune one unit of the Industrial Court is proposed to be shifted to Chandrapur as and when the Industrial Court is established at Chandrapur. Taking into consideration the institution and pendency, one more Industrial Court Judge can be shifted from Pune. It will be desirable to shift it to Kolhapur. However, at present, the Industrial Court at Kolhapur is working on the upper floor of Municipal Corporation building and there is vegetable market on the ground floor of that building. There is no scope for any more Court in that building. However, new administrative building of the Government is being developed. Some portions of that building are ready and Fact Track Courts and Offices of different departments are functioning from that building. One additional wing of that building is coming up. If sufficient accommodation from that wing is made available for the Industrial and Labour Courts, present Industrial and Labour Courts can be shifted from the Municipal building to the Administrative building and additional Industrial and Labour Court Judges can be provided for Kolhapur.

29. At Ahmednagar, there are 2871 matters pending in the Industrial Court while at Nashik, there are only 488 matters. At each of these places there is one Industrial Court Judge. To clear the pendency at Ahmednagar, the Judge at Nashik may be deputed to Ahmednagar for a fortnight every month, till pendency is brought under control.

30. The report suggests that taking into consideration the total pendency, institution per Judge workload and the number of Judges at the different stations, as shown in Annexure (2), it will be desirable to shift 3 Labour Judges with staff from Bombay and one Labour Court Judge with staff from Thane. Two of them may be posted at Nagpur and 2 may be posted at Pune. As I have proposed that 2 Industrial Court Judges may be shifted from Pune, 2 Labour Court Judges can be accommodated in those premises. At Dhule, there are only 340 matters in Labour Court and at Jalgaon pendency is 1078. These two Courts can be manned by one Labour Judge and the spare Labour Judge can be transferred to Kolhapur. At Yavatmal, workload is less then half of the average workload, while at Bhandara, it is more than double. Therefore, Yavatmal Judge may be deputed to Bhandara for a fortnight every month till pendency is brought under control. The report further states that it is, no doubt, true that the deputation of a Judge for fortnight may cause inconvenience to him, but unless strength of the Judges is increased, the solution is only deputation of the Judges.

31. The report suggests to make necessary additions, alterations and construction of chambers and dais and that four Court halls can be made available in the Industrial and Labour Court premises at Nagpur. Two Industrial Court Units may be shifted from Mumbai to Nagpur. One Industrial Court Unit may be shifted from Pune to Chandrapur and one Industrial Court Unit may be shifted from Pune to Kolhapur. The Government may be directed to make available accommodation in the new Administrative building at Kolhapur for Industrial and Labour Courts. Judge of the Industrial Court at Nashik may be deputed to Industrial Court Ahmedngar for a fortnight every month till pendency at Ahmednagar comes under control.

32. The report further suggests that three units of Labour Courts from Mumbai and one Labour Court Unit from Thane may be shifted. Out of them two may be posted at Nagpur and two at Pune. Dhule and Jalgaon Labour Courts may be made link Court and the spare Labour Judge may be transferred to Kolhapur. Labour Judge from Yavatmal may be deputed to Bhandara for a fortnight every month till pendency at Bhandara comes under control. The Report submitted by Mr. Bhatia is a balance report and takes into account all the possible contingencies. In this view of the matter, we direct respondent No. 1 to act upon the said report within eight weeks from today and take necessary steps, if required, in consultation with the High Court administration.

(e) Investiture of powers under different Industrial laws :--

33. The report of Mr. Bhatia further states, generally, it is found that whenever any Judicial Officer is appointed and posted as Industrial or Labour Court Judge, for long time, necessary notifications are not issued by the Government, conferring powers on them under the different Industrial Laws. In the result, the Judges are required to sit idle for months together. This results in wastage of limited resources and infrastructure. In absence of the necessary powers, the Court work comes to grinding halt which also affects the disposal quota of the concerned judge. Lot of inconvenience is caused to the litigants and the whole infrastructure becomes idle. It is always desirable to issue notifications conferring the powers under the different Industrial Laws along with the posting orders, so that the Judges are not required to sit idle. The report of Mr. Bhatia reveal that the Registry of the High Court had written to the Government way back on 5th December, 2000 (Annexure 3) requesting that the Notifications empowering the Judges under different Industrial Laws should be issued along with Notifications for appointment of those Judges. It appears that the letter had no effect. The State Government henceforth is directed to issue necessary Notifications to confer powers under different Industrial and Labour Laws, along with Notification about appointments of the Judges of the Industrial and Labour Courts.

(f) Provision for Office Expenses :--

34. It is reported in the report of Mr. Bhatia that a complaint is made to him by the Officer of Industrial and Labour Courts at Nagpur that during last two years, government is not providing sufficient funds even to meet the urgent and essential expenses. In the result, the Labour Court Office could not pay even the electricity and water charges. We, in the premises direct the Government to make sufficient provision for office expenses within thirty days from the date of demand by the office of the Industrial and Labour Courts, so that all the dues of electricity, water charges, etc., can be cleared well within time.

35. We do not think that the decision of this case will solve the problem for all time to come. As a matter of fact, the President of the Industrial Court, M.S., Mumbai ought to have kept the High Court informed of the failure on the part of the State Government to provide necessary financial infrastructure as demanded by him from time to time so that High Court on its administrative side could have taken adequate steps to ensure appropriate financial infrastructure from the State Government.

36. In the case of State of Maharashtra v. Lab. Law. P. Ass. and Ors., , Apex Court ruled that the Labour Courts perform judicial functions and is a Court. The Labour Court Judges and the Judges of the Industrial Court belong to judicial service. The hierarchy contemplated in the case of Labour Court judges is the hierarchy of Labour Court judges and Industrial Court judges with the Industrial Court judges holding the superior position of District Judges. The Labour Courts have also been held as subject to the High Court's power of superintendence under Article 227.

37. The constitutional scheme under Chapter V of Part VI dealing with High Courts and Chapter VI of Part VI dealing with the subordinate Courts show a clear anxiety on the part of the framers of the Constitution to preserve and promote independence of the judiciary from the executive. Article 235 provides that the control over the District Courts and Courts subordinate thereto shall be vested in the High Court. The word "control" referred to in Article 235 is used in a comprehensive sense to include general superintendence of the working of the subordinate Courts. In other words the control vested in the High Court under this Article is complete control. Subject only to the power of the Governor in the matter of appointment and promotion of District Judges. The provision under this Article is to ensure independence of judiciary. It is the High Court which has to play a pivotal role in the implementation of the scheme for its effective implementation and achievement of the above objectives, of course, complying with the constitutional requirements embodied in relevant provisions of Chapter VI of the Constitution.

38. In order to maintain sense of confidence in the subordinate judiciary, to have proper and adequate financial resources and for equal distribution of the Financial Grant sanctioned by the State Government and to ensure appropriate control over it, we direct that the President, Industrial Court, henceforth, shall work out financial requirement in prior consultation with the High Court before submitting it to the State Government to enable it to make provision in the "Budget, Estimate and Grants" to be sanctioned for being allotted to the Labour and Industrial Courts, in the relevant financial year; and shall allocate the said funds in consultation (in case of emergency post-consultation) with the High Court to the Labour and Industrial Courts at various stations. This will avoid repeated judicial interference of this Court to take care of the minor and/or major financial problems faced by it. We also expect requisite co-operation from the State Government to the High Court and the President, Industrial Court, M.S., Mumbai.

39. The State Government, in the above backdrop, is directed to act upon other part of the report of Mr. J.H. Bhatia and to appoint additional adequate Court staff and sanction more funds for judiciary infrastructure; ignoring ban on recruitment and without putting any lame excuse that it is under severe financial crunch. Failure to implement directions issued herein; may compel us to take drastic steps. We hope, the respondents shall not compel this Court to go to that extent.

40. Having said so and having issued aforesaid specific directions, we also propose to issue certain general directions for the present since the scenario in all other Courts is not different, which would be sufficient to take care of some of the problems highlighted by the petitioner Association.

DIRECTIONS BY THE COURT :

(A) The Executive Engineer (PWD) or any other officer in-charge of the maintenance of the building in question shall inspect and supervise the building, Court rooms, Bar rooms, waiting and sitting place meant for the litigants including Court precincts of the Labour and Industrial Courts in the State of Maharashtra at the end of every six months. He shall be accompanied by the Senior Judge and Superintendent or Head Clerk of the Industrial or Labour Court as the case may be with the President of the local Labour Court Bar Association of the respective station and after inspection shall take steps to provide necessary repairs and other facilities as may be required within next three months from the date of inspection.

(B) The detailed minutes of joint inspection shall be maintained by the inspecting Officer/Engineer of which one copy shall be retained by the Senior Judge or the Superintendent or the Head Clerk of the Industrial or Labour Court who shall forward the copy thereof to the Registrar of the High Court or the Additional Registrar of the respective Bench as the case may be; for reference and record with his remarks with regard to the compliance of the requirement, a complimentary copy thereof should also be handed over to the President of the Local Labour Court Bar Association for reference and record.

(C) The President, Industrial Court, M.S., Mumbai, henceforth, shall work out financial requirement in prior consultation with High Court before submitting it to the State Government to enable it to make provision in the budget estimate for being allotted to the Labour and Industrial Courts in the relevant financial year, and shall allocate the said funds, in consultation (in case of emergency post-consultation) with the High Court, to the Labour and Industrial Courts at various stations so as to enable the High Court to exercise effective control over financial requirement, allocation and distribution of funds and expenditure thereof by the Labour and Industrial Courts in the State of Maharashtra.

(D) The copies of the judgment be sent by the Registry of this Court to the Chief Secretary (General Administration) with copy to the Principal Secretary & R.L.A. Government of Maharashtra, Sachivalaya, Mumbai 400 032 and the President, Industrial Court, M. S., Mumbai along with copy of the report of Mr. J.H. Bhatia, Additional Registrar (Inspection), High Court, Mumbai and the concerned Labour and Industrial Court within the jurisdiction of this High Court for compliance with our directions. (E) Though this petition is treated as closed. Status Report shall be submitted to this Court by the President of the Industrial Court, M.S., Mumbai by the end of August 2003. We hope that the State Government shall ensure immediate release of funds to the President, Industrial Court. The report shall be placed for consideration before Bench to be fixed by the Hon'ble the Chief Justice of the High Court.

In the result, petition is allowed. Rule is made absolute in terms of this order with no order as to costs.