The Director (Technical), Western Coalfields Ltd. and Others v. Controlling Authority, Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central), and Anr.
Case brief
What is this about?
Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; differential/additional gratuity claims by retired Western Coalfields Ltd (Coal India subsidiary) workmen; Office Memoranda dated 03.08.2017 and 11.04.2018; eligibility confined to Executive Employee / Non-Unionized Supervisor categories; Rs. 10,00,000/- gratuity already paid to each employee; 10% per annum interest direction under challenge; Controlling Authority (Asst. Labour Commissioner (Central), Chandrapur) and Appellate Authority (Dy. Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), Nagpur) orders quashed; refund of deposited difference amount; Writ Petition No. 7364 of 2024 (common judgment dated 07.04.2026) followed; Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench; Prafulla S. Khubalkar, J.; writ petitions allowed and disposed of; advocates A.S. Jaiswal (Sr.), P.V. Ghare, Neeraja G. Chaubey, S.P. Giratkar, A.K. Qureshi.
What did the court decide?
Writ petitions allowed and disposed of: impugned orders of the Controlling Authority (and Appellate Authority, wherever challenged) quashed and set aside; the difference amount deposited by the petitioners with the Appellate Authority (wherever applicable) to be refunded to the petitioners; no order as to costs; rule made absolute accordingly.