Disposed

M/S. Kamala Mills Ltd. and Ors. v. Mr. Dilip Kumar G Damani and Ors.

Bombay HC26 Apr 2024WP/5522/2023

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

This Court disposed of a contempt petition and a civil appeal challenging Labour Court orders regarding workmen's dues. Following a successful mediation, the Court directed withdrawal of agreed amounts from a court deposit, ordered direct payment of a disputed sixth head of claim by the employer, and directed the MLWB to refund a specific sum to the employer.

What did the court decide?

Petitioners-Workers entitled to withdraw Rs. 49,49,333.07 from Court deposit; Employer to pay Rs. 17,33,512/- with interest; MLWB directed to refund Rs. 9,82,387/- to Employer.

M/S. Kamala Mills Ltd. and Ors. Vs Mr. Dilip… — Pension and Retirement Benefits | Bombay HC (2024)

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

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CONTEMPT PETITION NO.34 OF 2023
IN

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W RIT PETITION NO.248 OF 2011
W ITH

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INTERIM APPLICATION (LODGING) NO.4620 OF 2024

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IN

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CONTEMPT PETITION NO.34 OF 2023

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Dilip Kumar G. Damani and Ors....Petitioners

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Versus

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B.M. Singhania and Ors....Respondents

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W ITH

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W RIT PETITION NO.5522 OF 2023
(CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION)
M/s. Kamala Mills Ltd. and Ors....Petitioners

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Versus

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Mr. Dilip Kumar G. Damani and
Ors....Respondents

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Mr. Jitendra Damani for Petitioner in CONPW/34/2023 (OS) and for
Respondents in WP/5522/2023(AS).

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Mr. S.R. Nargolkar with Mr. Arjun Kadam for the Petitioner in
WP/5522/2023 (AS) and for Respondent sin CONPW/34/2023 (OS).
Mr. P.P. Kakade, Govt. Pleader with Ms Vaishali Nimbalkar, AGP for
Respondent -State.

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Mr. J.K. Patil, Law Officer, Maharashtra Labour Welfare Board,
present.

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CORAM : SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.

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Digitally signed by MEGHA MEGHA SHREEDHAR SHREEDHAR PARAB PARAB Date: 2024.04.30 18:05:20 +0530

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PC:

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DATED : 26 APRIL 2024.

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1.It appears that some of the Respondents in Writ
Petition are dead. Leave is granted to amend the petition by

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Megha 1/8

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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bringing their legal representatives on record. Re-verification is
dispensed with. Amendment to be carried out within one week.

¶26

2.M/s. Kamla Mills Ltd. and its Directors have filed Writ
Petition No. 5522 of 2023 challenging orders passed by the Labour
Court on 14 October 2022 and 20 February 2023 with regard to
quantification of amounts to which Respondents-workmen are held
entitled to under provisions of Section 33C(2) of the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947. The employees in turn have filed Contempt
Petition No.34 of 2023 not only alleging breach of the orders passed
by the Labour Court on 14 October 2022 and 20 February 2023,
they have additionally alleged breach of order passed by this Court
on 20 December 2013 in Writ Petition No.248 of 2011.

¶27

3.In view of disputes relating to computation of amounts
of entitlement of the workers, this Court referred the parties to
mediation before Mr. S.C. Naidu, an Advocate practising in this
Court. The learned Mediator has conducted as many as six
meetings between the parties and has finally successfully mediated
in the disputes amongst them and has submitted a final report dated
4 March 2024.

¶28

4.Perusal of the report of the Mediator dated 4 March
2024 would indicate that workers are claiming amounts under total
six heads. While the rival parties agreed on amounts payable under
the five heads, in respect of the sixth head (which includes claim

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Megha

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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towards salary in respect of the period from 7 November 1988 to 21
October 1992), the parties could not agree. The disagreement qua
amount payable under sixth head is not in respect of its
computation. The disagreement is essentially referrable to deposit of
amount made by the Employer with Maharashtra Labour Welfare
Board (MLW B) and its demand to adjust the said amount towards
the amounts payable to the workers under the sixth head. While the
Employer kept on insisting before the Mediator that the said
deposited amount of Rs.9,82,387/- must be adjusted towards
amounts now payable to the workers, Mr. Nargolkar has now fairly
submitted that the amount under the sixth head will also be paid by
the employer to the workers directly and that the said deposited
amount with the MLWB can be permitted to be withdrawn by the
Employer. The plea for adjustment thus is no longer insisted upon.

¶33

5.As per the final report of the Mediator in paragraph
16.3, various amounts payable to the 15 workers have been
crystalised as under:-

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Sr. No.	Name	Aggregate amount payable under four heads of claim (inclusive of interest upto 31- 12-2023	Aggregate amount payable under fifth head of claim (inclusive of interest upto 31-12- 2023)	Total amount payable under five heads of claim (inclusive of interest)
A	B	C	D	E (C+D)
1.	O.P. Saini	434,150.75	11,586.87	4,45,737.62
2.	S.N. Laddha	453,099.93	10,736.94	4,63,836.87
3.	D.K. Damani	393,816.87	10,483.35	4,04,300.22
4.	K.L. Vyas	425,866.06	10,483.35	4,36,349.41

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Megha

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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5.	B.M. Singhania	454,760.77	11,648.17	4,66,408.94
6.	K.N. Mishra	529,888.69	12,556.62	5,42,445.31
7.	S.K. Sharma	811,465.11	13,512.44	8,24,977.55
8.	A.J. Merchant	202,313.13	8,691.54	2,11,004.67
9.	S.G. Kavle	235,460.26	6,027.51	2,41,487.77
10.	P.R. Sharma	3,92,802.53	10,483.35	4,03,285.88
11.	Sobran Shriram	107,252.35	2070.48	1,09,322.83
12.	Gopalchand	90,159.07	1,936.72	92,095.79
13.	Mrs. Gita Sharma	97,000.29	1936.72	98,937.01
14.	R.G. Parekh	107,252.35	2070.48	1,09,322.83
15.	B.K. Dave	97,591.05	2,229.32	99,820.37
	Total(in Rs.)	48,32,879.21	1,16,453.86	49,49,333.07

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6.There is no dispute to the position that the said
aggregate amount of Rs.49,49,333.07 is in respect of five heads. The
amounts payable towards six heads have also been crystalised in the
sixth mediation meeting held on 20 February 2023 and said amounts
are as under :-

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`Sr.No` `.`	`Name`	`Gross Salary from` `07-11-1988` `to` `21-10-1992`
`A`	`B`	`C`
`1.`	`O.P. Saini`	`197428`
`2.`	`S.N. Laddha`	`182930`
`3.`	`D.K. Damani`	`178610`
`4.`	`K.L. Vyas`	`178610`
`5.`	`B.M. Singhania`	`198456`
`6.`	`K.N. Mishra`	`213933`
`7.`	`S.K. Sharma`	`230218`
`8.`	`P.R. Sharma`	`178610`

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Megha

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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`9. Sobran Shiram`	`35371`
`10.Shrigopal Chanda`	`34896`
`11.Geeta Sharma`	`30860`
`12.R.G. Parikh`	`35371`
`13.B.K. Dave`	`38219`
`Total`	`1733512`

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7.Before the learned Mediator, both the parties agreed
that simple interest at the rate of 6% from 21 October 1992 on
amounts payable under sixth head shall also be paid to the workers.

¶46

8. So far as amount of Rs.49,49,333.07 is concerned, the
same includes interest upto 31 December 2023. In respect of period
of interest after 1 January 2024, in my view the Employer shall pay
to the workers simple interest at the rate of 6% per annum in respect
of amount of Rs.49,49,333.07 from 1 January 2024 till 30 April 2024.

¶47

9. Having crystalized the amounts payable to the workers along
with interest, the next issue is about mode of payment to workers. It
appears that the Employer has already deposited amount of Rs.
50,00,000/- in this Court and accordingly the workers can be
permitted to withdraw the amount indicated in the above table
aggregating Rs. 49,49,333.07/-.

¶48

10.Mr. Nargolkar has submitted that so far as the amount
under the sixth head is concerned, the Employer is willing to pay an

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Megha

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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amount of Rs. 17,33,512/- to the workers alongwith interest at the
rate of 6% from 21 October 1992 till the date of actual payment.

¶53

11.Thus, there are two sets of amounts -(i) the amounts
which can be withdrawn from this Court and (ii) amounts which are
to be directly paid by the Employer to the workers. The amount of
Rs.49,49,333.07 is to be withdrawn by the workers from this Court
out of amount of Rs.50,00,000/-deposited by the Employer in this
Court and the balance amount, with interest accrued thereon can be
refunded to the Employer.

¶54

12.So far as the amount directly payable by Employer to
the workers is concerned, the said amount would be at the rate of 6%
simple interest on amount of Rs. 49,49,333.07 from 1 January 2024
till 30 April 2024 and Rs. 17,33, 512/- alongwith simple interest at
the rate of 6% per annum from 21 October 1992 till the date of
payment thereof.

¶55

13. So far as the amount of Rs.9,82,387/- deposited by the
Employer with MLWB is concerned, the Board shall refund the said
amount to the Employer without any interest.

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14. Accordingly, I proceed to pass following order:-

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(i) 15 Respondents in Writ Petition No.5522 of 2023 or their legal representatives, as the case may be, shall be

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Megha

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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entitled to withdraw the amount indicated in the table
in paragraph No.5 above from the amount deposited by
the Employer in this Court. The balance amount,
alongwith accrued interest thereon, shall be refunded to
Employer -M/s. Kamla Mills Ltd.

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(ii) The Employer- M/s. Kamla Mills Ltd. shall pay to the 15 workmen /their legal heirs, simple interest at the rate of 6% per annum on amounts indicated against their names in paragraph 5 above from 1 January 2024 to 30 April 2024.

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(iii) The Employer/ M/s. Kamla Mills Ltd. shall pay to the 15 workmen /their heirs, amount of R.17,33,512/- as indicated in Paragraph No.6 above alongwith simple interest at the rate of 6% per annum from 21 October 1992 till the date of payment thereof.

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(iv) The amounts directed to be paid by the Employer/ M/ s. Kamla Mills Ltd. shall be paid to 15 workers /their legal heirs within six weeks from today.

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(v) MLWB is directed to refund amount of Rs.9,82,387/- to the Employer/ M/s. Kamla Mills Ltd. within four weeks from today.

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(vi) For the ease of making the payments by Employer/M/ s. Kamla Mills Ltd. directly to the 15 workers /their legal heirs, the details of the bank accounts of workers/ their legal heirs shall be provided to the Petitioners within two weeks from today.

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Megha

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 906&907_conpw_34 and WP_5522_23_fc.docx

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(vii) Parties agree that all the disputes amongst them shall stand resolved subject to receipt of the amounts as indicated above.

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15.This Court records appreciation for the efforts taken by
the Mediator Mr. S. C. Naidu.

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16.In view of the above directions, petitions stand disposed
of. In view of disposal of the petitions, interim application does not
survive and hence stands disposed of.

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[SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.]

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Megha

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M/S. Kamala Mills Ltd. and Ors. v. Mr. Dilip Kumar G Damani and Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

M/S. Kamala Mills Ltd. and Ors. v. Mr. Dilip Kumar G Damani and Ors.

Case brief

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What did the court decide?

What the court decided

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