1. The petitioners have filed these petitions under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, with the following main prayer:
Criminal Misc. Application No.16415 of 2011 [B] The criminal complaint being Criminal Case No.7853 of 2004 along with the orders passed thereon and further proceedings in pursuance to the said case as well as the order dated 01.10.2011 passed below Exhibit 8 application may kindly be quashed by this Hon'ble Court in the interest of justice.
Criminal Misc. Application No.16416 of 2011 [B] The criminal complaint being Criminal Case No.7854 of 2004 along with the orders passed thereon and further proceedings in pursuance to the said case as well as the order dated 01.10.2011 passed below Exhibit 8 application may kindly be quashed by this Hon'ble Court in the interest of justice.
Criminal Misc. Application No.16417 of 2011 [B] The criminal complaint being Criminal Case No.7855 of 2004 along with the orders passed thereon and further proceedings in pursuance to the said case as well as the order dated 01.10.2011 passed below Exhibit 8 application may kindly be quashed by this Hon'ble Court in the interest of justice.
Criminal Misc. Application No.16418 of 2011 [B] The criminal complaint being Criminal Case No.7856 of 2004 along with the orders passed thereon and further proceedings in pursuance to the said case as well as the order dated 01.10.2011 passed below Exhibit 8 application may kindly be quashed by this Hon'ble Court in the interest of justice.
2. Mr.
Dipak Dave, learned advocate for the petitioners, submits that petitioner No.1 is a company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and petitioner No.2 is the Managing Director of the company and a bare perusal of the complaints would at the most constitute a minor procedural lapse on the part of the petitioner No.2. It is also submitted that due to genuine difficulty the petitioner had expressed his inability to remain present on a particular date and the request to grant exemption from appearance before the court concerned was not accepted initially. It is further submitted that, more particularly, when the petitioner No.2 is not in-charge of day today affairs of the company, proceedings initiated against him for violation of different labour laws would amount to undue harassment and hardship. It is also submitted that in view of the nature of grievance of workmen, the petitioner would like to consider their case to the permissible extent under law and interest of justice would be served, if the matters are kept before the ensuing Lok Adalat. It is, therefore, submitted that non-bailable warrants be quashed and set aside or in the alternative convert non-bailable warrants into bailable warrants.
4. Heard learned APP for the respondent-State of Gujarat.
5. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and submissions canvassed by learned advocate for the petitioners in each of the petition, prima facie, I am of the opinion that for alleged procedural breach of labour law, the complaints are filed and the petitioner has explained his difficulty to remain present on a particular date and has not tried to avoid services of summons issued by the court. On the contrary, now assurance is given to the Court that the petitioner No.2 will remain present before the court.
6. In view of the above, non-bailable warrants issued by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhavnagar against the petitioners No.2 is modified and converted into bailable warrants. The complaints of the subject matter pending in the court of learned Chief be placed before the next Lok Adalat and the petitioner No.2 be informed the next date of Lok Adalat and accordingly the petitioner No.2 shall remain present before the Lok Adalat. It is also made clear that in spite of the above, if the petitioner No.2 fails to remain present when the matters are placed before the Lok Adalat, it will be open for the complainant to take appropriate action in accordance with law.
With the aforesaid, all these petitions stand disposed of. However, there shall be no order as to costs.
[Anant S. Dave, J.] *pvv Top