1. Parties have arrived at a settlement and they have produced on record the "Consent terms". It has been requested by learned counsel for the respective parties that the matter may be disposed of in accordance with the "Consent terms", which reads as under;
"(1) That by way of present petition the petitioner has sought relief for release of gratuity amount as per recovery certificate and the orders passed by the learned Controlling Authority by Account Payee cheques in favour of individual worker and / or the beneficiaries, who are covered under the Gratuity Cases, list of which is annexed herewith at Annexure-R1 with this consent terms, and be treated as part to this Consent Terms.
(2) That as per the petitioner, total amount of gratuity including the interest recoverable from the respondent nos.4 to 8 and as per the learned Controlling Authority comes to the tune of Rs.60,52,848.58. Subsequently, there has been series of negotiations between the petitioner and respondent nos. 4 to 8 in which various calculations were provided by respondent nos. 4 to 8 to the petitioner union clarifying that there is certain error in the computation being undertaking by the petitioner union by mentioning inadmissible allowances for claiming gratuity.
(3) That it has been mutually agreed that as against the said amount, already a sum of Rs.34,20,985/- has been deposited by respondent no.4 to 8 before the appropriate authority, i.e. District Development Officer (respondent no.1) and the said authority has already disbursed the amount to the concerned worker and / or to their beneficiaries.
(4) That it has been agreed and consented that from the total balance amount, the respondent nos. 4 to 8 shall deposit additional amount of Rs.16,71,279/-. The said amount of Rs.16,71,279/- is paid as full and final settlement for all the 231 concerned workers, list of which is annexed with this Consent Terms at Annexure-R1, as covered under the orders passed by the learned Controlling authority and recovery certificates as issued against respondent nos.4 to 8 towards gratuity amount and accruing interest thereto. It is expressly understood that on payment of the said amount, no other claims or dispute whatsoever shall be raised by the said 231 workers and / or their beneficiaries against respondent no.4 to 8 and / or their partners and / or their sister concerns and / or their principal company.
(5) The said balance amount of Rs.16,71,279/- will be deposited as follows;
The respondent nos.4 to 8 shall deposit an amount of Rs.10,46,279/- with the District Development Officer, Halol within a period of 10 days from the date of signing of this Consent Terms and balance amount of Rs.6,25,000/- shall be deposited within a period of two months thereafter. The respondent no.1 may disburse the said amount within a period of one month as per the computation being submitted by the petitioner union in the intervening period.
(6) The petitioner union agrees that the said 231 workers shall not impress or press upon the Recovery Certificate as issued by the learned Controlling Authority and the orders of the learned Controlling Authority may be modified accordingly in light of the present Consent Terms. On depositing the amounts as per the consent terms, the recovery certificates will stand satisfied and no further action may be done by the authorities or workers to enforce the same.
(7) That this Consent Terms shall be taking care of claims qua the gratuity and interest accruing for 231 workers, list of which is annexed at Annexure-R1 and shall not be treated as an estoppel for any other proceedings, which are pending except gratuity and interest accruing thereto.
(8) That the petitioner and the respondent nos.4 to 8 have also agreed that the Recovery Certificates issued by the Alien Recovery Officer may be modified accordingly in terms of the present Consent Terms.
(9) That there shall be no breach by the consenting parties to this Consent Terms and if such circumstances arise, then the party shall be free to initiate appropriate proceedings against the party breaching the present Consent Terms."
2. It is, however, made clear that the Annexures attached with the Consent Terms are not to be implemented. The petition stands disposed of in the above terms.
[K.
S. JHAVERI, J.] Pravin/* Top