Delhi High Court
South Delhi Trade Unionist vs Union Of India & Ors. on 5 November, 2020
$~13
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
% Date of Decision: 5th November, 2020
+ W.P.(C) No.7427/2020
SOUTH DELHI TRADE UNIONIST ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr.Rama Shankar, Advocate
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Ms. Amrita Prakash, CGSC for UOI
Mr.Sanjoy Ghose, ASC, GNCTD
CORAM:
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRATEEK JALAN
JUDGMENT
: D.N. PATEL, Chief Justice (Oral)
Proceedings of the matter have been conducted through video
conferencing.
1. This Public Interest Litigation has been preferred with the following
prayers:
"1. A writ of mandamus or any other writ or direction
may kindly passed in favor of petitioner and against the
respondents thereby directing the respondents to shift the
office of Labour Commissioner, South-East District,
Delhi at Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi from
Pushpa Bhawan, Delhi.
2. A writ of mandamus or any other writ or direction
may kindly passed in favor of petitioner and against the
respondents thereby directing the respondent to evict the
office of local MLA and also restrain from running the
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Digitally Signed By:PANKAJ
KUMAR
Location:
Signing Date:09.11.2020
18:12:03
office of the political party from the building meant for
the office of labour commissioner for the District South
East, Delhi.
Any other writ or direction may kindly issued in favor of
petitioner and against the respondents."
2. We have issued notice in this writ petition and the detailed counter
affidavit has been filed by the respondents. The relevant paragraph of the
counter affidavit filed by Respondent No.4/Labour Department, Govt. of
NCT of Delhi reads as under:
"2. That vide order dated 05.10.2020, this Hon'ble
Court directed the respondents to file their reply/status
report in the matter. Pursuant thereto, the Answering
Respondent hereby craves indulgence of this Hon'ble
Court to submit as follows:
a. That at the outset, it is submitted that the present
petition is wholly misplaced, baseless and an attempt
on the part of the Petitioner to mislead this Hon'ble
Court, therefore, all such baseless contentions raised
by the Petitioner are vehemently denied herein.
b. That it is submitted that the Labour Department has
created two additional Districts vide order dated
04.10.2018, South-East and Shahdara, in addition to
the existing 9 districts, co-terminus with the districts
of the Revenue Department. However, due to shortage
of officers and staff members, the above mentioned
two districts could not be made functional. The South-
East district, which is part of South district, is
functional from Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar, Saket.
c. That it is further submitted that in the year 2015,
Secretariat of the Delhi Legislative Assembly
requested for some office space in all the 70 Assembly
constituencies of Delhi for its MLAs, which were
available and which may be given by the
Departments/Local Bodies. The request was acceded
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Digitally Signed By:PANKAJ
KUMAR
Location:
Signing Date:09.11.2020
18:12:03
to by the Government.
d. That out of the aforesaid 70 locations, two (2) of the
office locations pertain to Labour Department -- (i)
one at Labour Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji;
and (ii) Labour Welfare Centre, DTC Colony, Pratap
Nagar. Accordingly, vide order No. 6(414)/CTO/
LS/2015/Lab/1354 dated 05.08.2015, Labour
Department allotted one (1) room at Giri Nagar,
Kalkaji to the then Hon'ble MLA Sh. Avtar Singh on
following terms and conditions.
i The allotment is for the period for which the Hon'ble
MLA holds the public office.
ii. The electricity and Water charges should be borne
by the office of the Hon'ble MLA. Any other
charge/fee to be collected by the Local Body or the
Pubic Authority shall also be borne by the office of
Hon'ble MLA.
iii. There should not be any subletting or commercial
use of the allotted space.
iv. No new construction/alternation or encroachment
of the allotted space/premised would be allowed.
v. The allotted space/premises should be used only for
public purposes.
(A copy of the order, bearing No. 6(414)/CTO/LS/
2015/Lab/1354 dated 05.08.2015 is annexed herewith
and marked as Annexure R1).
e. That the possession of the allotted space was
surrendered by the Hon'ble MLA prior to nomination
process of Delhi Assembly Elections, 2020. After the
Assembly elections, Secretariat of Delhi Legislative
Assembly vide letter dated 22.02.2020 requested the
Departments/Autonomous bodies to allot office space
for constituency offices to newly elected Hon'ble
MLAs on behalf of Delhi Assembly Secretariat.
Accordingly vide order dated 04.03.2020, the office
space which was earlier allotted to Ex-MLA, Sh.Avtar
Singh was allotted to newly elected MLA Smt. Atishi
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Digitally Signed By:PANKAJ
KUMAR
Location:
Signing Date:09.11.2020
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with the same terms and conditions as mentioned
above.
(A copy of the letter dated 22.02.2020 issued by the
Delhi Assembly Secretariat is annexed herewith and
marked as Annexure-R2)
(A copy of the letter dated 04.03.2020 issued by the
Delhi Assembly Secretariat is annexed herewith and
marked as Annexure-R3.)
f. That it is further clarified that there is enough space
available at Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, however, due to
shortage of manpower, the same could not be made
functional.
g. That it is also submitted that the present office of
District South at Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar has
been functional now for more than 14 to 15 years,
when the office of Dy. Labour Commissioner South
shifted from Giri Nagar, Kalkaji to Pushpa Bhawan,
Pushp Vihar, Saket.
h. It is respectfully submitted that enforcement of
minimum wages is one of the mandated works of the
Answering Respondent and Office of Deputy Labour
Commissioner (South) at Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp
Vihar, Saket is effectively taking care of the same for
entire South district. It is further submitted that
Labour Department has created two additional
districts coterminous with Revenue Districts,
however, the same could not be made functional due
to manpower shortage and the two districts shall start
functioning with the availability of requisite
manpower."
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the office of the
Labour Commissioner should be shifted from Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar,
Saket to Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi. From a reading of the
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Digitally Signed By:PANKAJ
KUMAR
Location:
Signing Date:09.11.2020
18:12:03
counter affidavit, it appears that the Labour Commissioner has created two
additional districts vide order dated 04.10.2018, namely, South-East and
Shahdara which are in addition to the existing nine districts, co-terminus
with the districts of the Revenue Department. It also appears from the facts
of the case that this is an administrative and policy decision of the
respondents, based upon the shortage of available staff, that at present the
Labour Commissioner Office will work from Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar,
Saket, New Delhi. There is no such right vested in the petitioner that the
office of the Labour Commissioner must be working from Welfare Centre,
Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi. Looking to the administrative exigencies,
particularly the shortage of staff as stated by the respondents, and the other
reasons which are stated in the counter affidavit, at present the office of the
Labour Commissioner is working from Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar, Saket,
New Delhi and hence, we see no reason to issue any directions, much less a
writ of mandamus, directing the Respondent/GNCTD to shift the office of
the Labour Commissioner from Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar, Saket, New
Delhi to Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi.
4. Nonetheless, Respondent/GNCTD is at liberty to start the office of the
Labour Commissioner from Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi
looking to the need of the people at large and if the other circumstances
permit them to do so. However, this will depend upon the facts and
circumstances of the case and the policy decision to be taken by the
respondent/GNCTD.
5. It has further been argued by the learned counsel for the petitioner
that, instead of establishing the office of the Labour Commissioner, the
MLA of the concerned constituency is running her office from the Welfare
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Digitally Signed By:PANKAJ
KUMAR
Location:
Signing Date:09.11.2020
18:12:03
Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi. We are not in agreement with this
contention. Looking to the counter affidavit filed by respondent No.4, it
appears that only one room has been assigned to the MLA.
6. In this set of circumstances, we see no reason to entertain this petition
and the same is therefore dismissed with the observation that if the
Government of NCT of Delhi takes a policy decision to shift the office of
the Labour Commissioner from Pushpa Bhawan, Pushp Vihar, Saket, New
Delhi to Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar, Kalkaji, Delhi or if the Government of
NCT of Delhi wants to start an office from Welfare Centre, Giri Nagar,
Kalkaji, Delhi, they are always permitted to do so, looking to the pressing
need of the society and the administrative exigencies.
7. With these observations, the writ petition is disposed of.
CHIEF JUSTICE
PRATEEK JALAN, J
NOVEMBER 5, 2020
pk
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:PANKAJ
KUMAR
Location:
Signing Date:09.11.2020
18:12:03
