It has come on record that petitioner Murari Lal was proved to be an employee of some other firm from January 1982 to April 1982 and this fact was also not disputed by his counsel before the Tribunal below. The cash book entries produced by the management showed the payment of wages to these workmen from May 1982 to September, 1983 along with other employees. None of the other employees complained about the non payment of wages. No doubt, the management admitted that they do not maintain the attendance as well as wages register, but they produced the cash book entries to show the payment of the wages to the petitioners. Had such entries been fabricated, the petitioners would have examined the other employees who were shown to have paid the wages to prove that the same are not genuine and in fact they have not been paid the wages. Thus, it was rightly concluded that cash book entries are genuine. In support of such findings it was also taken into consideration that had these employees not been paid the wages for the aforesaid period which comes to about 21 months, they would not have remained mum up-till the termination of their services, rather would have raised the dispute at an earlier stage. The plea that the amount of wages were deposited by the petitioners to help the management was rightly dealt with by the Tribunal below by holding that such a deposit falls within the definition of fixed deposit, with or without interest, for recovery of which the Industrial Tribunal is not the proper forum and it lies within the domain of the Civil Court. The Tribunal below analyzed the evidence on record in the right perspective and rightly awarded the amount for the period which was found due to the workmen by giving the detailed reasons. There is no merit in the instant writ petition and the same is accordingly dismissed.
