Telangana High Court
Rekunta Raja Narsu vs The Chairman And Managing ... on 15 June, 2022
Bench: Satish Chandra Sharma, Abhinand Kumar Shavili
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA
AND
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI
WA.Nos.288, 291, 293, 297, 299, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306,
307, 310, 314, 315, 316, 317,318, 322, 323, 325, 329, 330, 331,
334, 335, 338, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 350, 352, 357, 360,
361, 362, 363, 364, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 372, 374, 375, 376,
377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 391, 410,414, 415, 439, 444, 445, 446,
447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 460, 461 & 499 of 2020;
WA.Nos.11, 56, 287, 288, 289, 414, 643 & 657 of 2021
COMMON JUDGMENT: (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma)
Regard being had to the controversy involved in the
aforesaid cases, they were heard together and are being
decided by a common order.
The facts of W.A.No.291 of 2020 are reproduced as
under:-
The appellant before this Court - Gummadi Rajaiah,
was appointed in the services of Singareni Collieries
Company Limited as a mine worker and while he was
working in the underground mines, he was subjected to
medical examination keeping in view the National Coal
Wage Agreement - VI notified with effect from 03.04.1997.
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The National Coal Wage Agreement - VI provides for
certain social security for the underground workers and
clauses 9.4.0 and 9.5.0 read as under:-
"9.4.0 Employment to one dependant of a worker who is
permanently disabled in his place
(i) The disablement of the worker concerned should arise
from injury or disease, be of a permanent nature
resulting into loss of employment and it should be so
certified by the Coal Company concerned.
(ii) In case of disablement arising out of general physical
debility so certified by the Coal Company, the
employee concerned will be eligible for the benefit
under this clause if he/she is upto the age of 58 years.
The term 'general physical debility' would mean
deficiency of a workman due to any disease or other
health reason leading to his/her disablement to
perform his/her duties regularly and/or efficiently.
(iii) The dependant for this purpose means the
wife/husband as the case may be, unmarried
daughter, son and legally adopted son. If no such
direct dependant is available for employment, brother,
widowed daughter/widowed daughter-in-law or son-in-
law residing with the employee and almost wholly
dependent on the earning of the employee may be
considered.
In so far as female dependants are concerned, their
employment would be governed by the provisions of
clause 9.5.0.
(iv) The dependants to be considered for employment
should be physically fit and suitable for employment
and aged not more than 35 years provided that the age
limit in case of employment of female spouse would be
45 years as given in Clause 9.5.0. In so far as male
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spouse is concerned, there would be no age limit
regarding provision of employment.
9.5.0 Employment/Monetary compensation to female
dependant.
Provision of employment/monetary compensation to female
dependants of workmen who die while in service and who are
declared medically unfit as per Clause 9.4.0 above would be
regulated as under:
(i) In case of death due to mine accident, the female
dependant would have the option to either accept the
monetary compensation of Rs.4,000/- per month or
employment irrespective of her age.
(ii) In case of death/total permanent disablement due to
cause other than mine accident and medical unfitness
under Clause 9.4.0, if the female dependant is below
the age of 45 years she will have the option either to
accept the monetary compensation of Rs.3,000/- per
month or employment.
In case the female dependant is above 45 years of age
she will be entitled only to monetary compensation
and not to employment.
(iii) In case of death either in mine accident or for other
reasons or medical unfitness under Clause 9.4.0, if no
employment has been offered and the male dependant
of the concerned worker is 12 years and above in age,
he will be kept on a live roster and would be provided
employment commensurate with his skill and
qualifications when he attains the age of 18 years.
During the period the male dependant is on live roster,
the female dependant will be paid monetary
compensation as per rates at paras (i) and (ii) above.
This will be effective from 1.1.2000.
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(iv) Monetary compensation wherever applicable, would be
paid till the female dependant attains the age of 60
years.
(v) The existing rate of monetary compensation will
continue. The matter will be further discussed in the
Standardisation Committee and finalized.
Note: In the case of TISCO, the matter would be settled at
bipartite level."
The aforesaid terms and conditions of the Agreement
of the Joint Bipartite Committee for the Coal Industry
make it very clear that after medical examination of the
workmen, in case he is fit to perform surface duty he will
be shifted from underground mines to surface duty and he
will be permitted to continue till the date of
superannuation. The Agreement also provided that in case
of permanent disability and in case a person is not fit to
perform surface duty also, his dependant/legal heir would
be entitled for a job in the Singareni Collieries.
In the present case, the undisputed facts reveal that
the employee in question was found fit to perform the
surface duty and he has also attained the age of
superannuation on 31.01.2020. He came up before this
Court by filing the writ petition stating that in the medical
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examination conducted by the employer, he was not
properly examined. He was permanently disabled and he
should not have been offered surface job. On the contrary,
he should have been medically boarded out and his
dependants should have been granted employment in his
place.
The learned Single Judge has dismissed the writ
petition along with other identical writ petitions and
against the common order passed by the learned Single
Judge, the present writ appeal has been filed.
It has been brought to the notice of this Court that
the employee in question has attained the age of
superannuation on 31.01.2020 while serving on surface
duty and after his retirement, this Court is of the
considered opinion that no medical examination can take
place to declare him as permanently disabled to perform
any job. Therefore, as the employee in question has
attained the age of superannuation after serving the
complete term, this Court does not find any reason to
interfere with the order passed by the learned Single
Judge.
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In other identical matters also the employees have
attained the age of superannuation. The same is reflected
from the following table:-
Sl. W.A.No. Employee retired on
No.
1.
288 of 2020 31.05.2020
2. 291 of 2020 31.01.2020
3. 293 of 2020 30.06.2020
4. 297 of 2020 30.11.2020
5. 299 of 2020 31.07.2020
6. 301 of 2020 31.10.2020
7. 302 of 2020 01.02.2021
8. 303 of 2020 31.01.2021
9. 304 of 2020 31.05.2020
10. 305 of 2020 31.12.2020
11. 306 of 2020 30.04.2020
12. 307 of 2020 31.07.2020
13. 314 of 2020 30.01.2021
14. 316 of 2020 30.06.2020
15. 317 of 2020 01.09.2021
16. 318 of 2020 31.03.2021
17. 322 of 2020 01.09.2020
18. 323 of 2020 28.02.2021
19. 325 of 2020 28.02.2021
20. 329 of 2020 30.09.2020
21. 330 of 2020 31.03.2020
22. 331 of 2020 30.09.2019
23. 335 of 2020 30.09.2020
24. 338 of 2020 31.03.2020
25. 343 of 2020 31.01.2021
26. 344 of 2020 31.03.2020
27. 345 of 2020 31.07.2020
28. 346 of 2020 31.10.2020
29. 347 of 2020 31.07.2021
30. 352 of 2020 30.06.2021
31. 360 of 2020 29.02.2020
32. 361 of 2020 30.04.2019
33. 363 of 2020 31.10.2020
34. 364 of 2020 31.10.2015
35. 366 of 2020 31.11.2019
36. 368 of 2020 31.12.2019
37. 369 of 2020 31.10.2019
38. 370 of 2020 31.03.2020
39. 372 of 2020 30.06.2019
40. 375 of 2020 31.01.2020
41. 376 of 2020 30.04.2021
42. 377 of 2020 30.04.2019
43. 378 of 2020 30.04.2020
44. 379 of 2020 31.07.2020
45. 380 of 2020 31.01.2021
46. 381 of 2020 30.06.2021
47. 391 of 2020 28.02.2021
48. 410 of 2020 31.05.2020
49. 414 of 2020 31.08.2020
50. 415 of 2020 28.02.2021
51. 439 of 2020 31.01.2020
52. 444 of 2020 31.08.2020
53. 445 of 2020 31.12.2020
54. 447 of 2020 30.07.2020
55. 448 of 2020 31.07.2020
56. 450 of 2020 31.12.2020
57. 451of 2020 30.04.2020
58. 452 of 2020 28.02.2021
59. 460 of 2020 29.02.2020
60. 461 of 2020 29.02.2020
61. 11 of 2021 30.04.2020
62. 56 of 2021 28.02.2021
63. 288 of 2021 29.02.2020
64. 289 of 2021 29.02.2020
65. 643 of 2021 28.02.2021
66. 657 of 2021 31.07.2020
In the light of the aforesaid, W.A.Nos.288, 291, 293,
297, 299, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 314, 316,
317, 318, 322, 323, 325, 329, 330, 331, 335, 338, 343,
344, 345, 346, 347, 352, 360, 361, 363, 364, 366, 368,
369, 370, 372, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379, 380, 381, 391,
410, 414, 415, 439, 444, 445, 447, 448, 450, 451, 452,
460, 461 of 2020 and 11, 56, 288, 289, 643, 657 of 2021
stand disposed of as infructuous, as no medical
examination can take place.
In respect of the persons who are still serving on
surface job, learned counsel for the parties have fairly
stated before this Court that a Corporate Medical Board
has been constituted, which is an independent Medical
Board.
The learned counsel for the Singareni Collieries
Company Limited has drawn the attention of this Court
towards the Office Memorandum, dated 09.03.2018, which
relates to constitution of Corporate Medical Board. The
Corporate Medical Board provides for review of medical
examination and the learned counsel is fair enough in
stating that in respect of the remaining employees who are
still in service, they will be examined positively within four
weeks from today by the Corporate Medical Board. The
Corporate Medical Board shall give a copy of the medical
report to all the individuals also and the employer, based
upon the recommendation of the Corporate Medical Board,
shall pass consequential orders thereafter within a further
period of four weeks keeping in view the National Coal
Wage Agreement - VI.
With the aforesaid, W.A.Nos.300, 310, 315, 334, 342,
350, 357, 362, 367, 374, 446, 449, 453, 499 of 2020 and
287, 414 of 2021 stand disposed of.
The miscellaneous applications pending, if any, shall
stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.
______________________________________
SATISH CHANDRA SHARMA, CJ
______________________________________
ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI, J
15.06.2022
vs
