Court No. - 33
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 12942 of 2018 Petitioner :- Shankar Jaiswal Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Dashrath Lal Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; learned Standing Counsel for respondents 1 to 3 and perused the record.
By means of the present petition the petitioner has challenged the order dated 29th January, 2016, passed by the Presiding Officer/Deputy Labour Commissioner, U.P. Varanasi Region, Varanasi under sub-section (3) of Section 20 of the Minimum Wages Act and the consequential recovery certificate dated 28th January, 2017.
The case of the petitioner is that the petitioner was not served with notice of the proceedings and that he has applied for recall of order dated 29th January, 2016 but, till date, the said recall application has not been decided, therefore recovery of the amount payable under the said order should not be made from the petitioner.
On 20th April, 2018, this Court has directed the learned Standing Counsel to seek instructions and produce documents to show that recovery order was passed after service of notice upon the petitioner.
Pursuant to the order dated 20th April, 2018, learned Standing Counsel has obtained written instruction from the Assistant Labour Commissioner, Varanasi and has informed the Court that the order dated 29th January, 2016 was passed after ensuring service of notice upon the petitioner through Registered Post. He, however, does not dispute the fact that an application has been filed by the petitioner to recall the order dated 29th January, 2016 and the said application is pending adjudication.
In view of the fact that recall application filed by the petitioner is yet to be decided, this Court considers it appropriate to dispose of this petition by directing that the petitioner may deposit the disputed amount with the respondent no.2 within a period of three weeks from today. The amount so deposited by the petitioner shall be invested by second respondent in an interest bearing deposit of a nationalized bank and shall abide the order passed on recall application. Upon deposit of the disputed amount within a period of three weeks from today, no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner till disposal of the recall application. On failure to make deposit recovery proceeding may continue. However, in any event, effort shall be made by the second respondent to consider and decide the recall application, in accordance with law, preferably, within a period of two months from the date of production of certified copy of this order.
With the aforesaid direction, the petition stands disposed off.
Order Date :- 30.4.2018. Rks.