The Hindu Business Line : State Govt has powers to recover workmen’s dues from employers: Court

The Tamil Nadu Government could grant a certificate under Section 33©(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act to a workman for amounts due from his employer, enabling the authorities to recover the said amount from the employer as arrears of land revenue, the Madras High Court has held.

Since the employer, S.K. Engineering, was not complying with an order dated August 8, 2007 of the Labour Court computing a sum of Rs 2,25,975 as payable to K. Ravichandran, workman, 1st respondent, for his non-employment, the State Labour Secretary issued a GO on January 29, 2009, directing the District Collector, Thiruvallur, to recover the amount from the petitioner-employer and pay it to the workman.

In a writ petition, the firm challenged the GO, contending that the Government had denuded itself of power under Section 33©(1) in view of amendments made by the TN Government to the I.D. Act. By virtue of the said amendments, the power to collect the amounts as arrears of land revenue was no longer available to the State Government, the petitioner submitted.

Dismissing the petition, Mr Justice K. Chandru ruled that the question that a State law became repugnant to the Central law would arise only if the State enacted a law which was in conflict with the Central law. In the present case, Section 33©(1) operated entirely in a different field.

In fact, the State Government could grant a certificate to a workman for any amount due, and it need not necessarily be based upon any order or award of the Labour Court, but even for a claim made under Chapter V-A or V-B of the I.D. Act. This had been clarified by the Supreme Court vide its judgment in Fabril Gasosa v Labour Commissioner [reported in 1997 (3) SCC 150].

In the present case, by amending the ID Act, the State Government had added additional powers to the Labour Court to execute its own order or award so that the workman could have an efficacious remedy of executing the orders obtained by him.

But that by itself did not mean the existing provisions of the I.D. Act to recover amounts due to workman was taken away.

The writ petition stood dismissed. The District Collector was directed to take expeditious steps to recover the amount from the petitioner and pay it to the 1st respondent.

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