Nehru Memorial Museum And Librar vs N.C.T. Of Delhi And Ors.
2003 Latest Caselaw 1079 Del

JUDGMENT

Mukul Mudgal, J.

1. One of the issue arisen in this writ petition is impleadment of Industrial Tribunal/Labour Court which practice has been followed in this Court for quite some time. Learned counsel for the petitioner has relied upon judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Savitri Devi v. District Judge, Gorakhpur and others reported as (1999) 2 Supreme Court Cases 577 wherein in paragraph 14, this issue was dealt with in the context of judicial officers as follows:-

"Before parting with this case, it is necessary for us to point out one aspect of the matter which is rather disturbing. In the writ petition filed in the High Court as well as the special leave petition filed in this Court, the District Judge, Gorakhpur and the 4th Additional Civil Judge (Junior Division), Gorakhpur are shown as respondents and in the special leave petition, they are shown as contesting respondents. There was no necessity for impleading the judicial officers who disposed of the matter in a civil proceeding when the writ petition was filed in the High Court; nor is there any justification for impleading them as parties in the special leave petition and describing them as contesting respondents. We do not approve of the course adopted by the petitioner which would cause unnecessary disturbance to the functions of the judicial officers concerned. They cannot be in any way equated to the officials of the Government. It is high time that the practice of impleading judicial officers disposing of civil proceedings as parties to writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or special leave petitions under Article 136 of the Constitution of India was stopped. We are strongly deprecating such a practice."

2. In my view the law laid down in the above judgment applies squarely to the present case also where a challenge to the award of a Labour Court has been made. Where even writ petitions are filed challenging the awards of the Labour Courts/Industrial Tribunals they should not be made parties unless some relief is claimed against them. Accordingly it is directed that in future Labour Courts/Industrial Tribunals should not be joined as parties to the writ petitions in this Court unless and until a specific relief is sought for against them or allegation is made against them. Accordingly the name of respondent No. 2 be deleted from the array of the respondents.