Orissa High Court
M/S. R Mc Dill Co. Pvt. Ltd vs Mahendra Kumar Mohapatra .... Opposite ... on 17 October, 2025
Bench: K.R. Mohapatra, Savitri Ratho
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) NO. 23379 OF 2025
1. M/s. R Mc Dill Co. Pvt. Ltd., Jajpur,
Odisha
2. The Director, M/s. R Mc Dill Co.
Pvt. Ltd. .... Petitioners
Mr. Sanjat Das, Advocate
-versus-
Mahendra Kumar Mohapatra .... Opposite Party
CORAM:
JUSTICE K.R. MOHAPATRA
JUSTICE SAVITRI RATHO
ORDER
Order No. 17.10.2025 02. 1. This matter is taken up through hybrid mode.
2. Petitioners in this writ application seek to assail the ex- parte award dated 19th April, 2025 passed by the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bhubaneswar in Industrial Dispute Case No. 31 of 2024.
3. Mr. Das, learned counsel for the Petitioners submits that notice in I.D. Case No. 31 of 2024 was never served on the first party management- Petitioners. Thus, they were not aware of the proceeding before the Labour Court, Bhubaneswar. They only came to know about the impugned ex-parte award under Annexure-1, after the award was published in the Official Gazette and communicated to the Petitioners. Since the award has already been made enforceable on publication in the Official Gazette, the Petitioners finding no other alternative have filed this writ petition to set aside the ex-parte award and remit the matter to the Labour Court, Bhubaneswar for adjudication of Page 1 of 4 Industrial Dispute Case No. 31 of 2024 on merit, providing opportunity of hearing to the Parties concerned. The matter was listed on 22nd September, 2025, when this Court adjourned the matter on the prayer of learned counsel for the Petitioners to enable him to verify the applicability of the ratio in the case of the Haryana Suraj Malting Limited vs. Phool Chand; (2018) 16 SCC 567.
4. Mr. Das, learned counsel for the Petitioners submits that the ratio in the case of Haryana Suraj Malting Limited (Supra) is squarely applicable to the instant case. It is submitted that the Labour Court has jurisdiction to entertain an application to set aside the ex-parte award even after the same became enforceable. He verily relied upon the observations of Hon'ble Supreme Court in para 35 and 36 of the aforesaid case law, which reads as under;
"35. Merely because an award has become enforceable, does not necessarily mean that it has become binding. For an award to become binding, it should be passed in compliance with the principles of natural justice. An award passed denying an opportunity of hearing when there was a sufficient cause for non-appearance can be challenged on the ground of it being nullity. An award which is a nullity cannot be and shall not be a binding award. In case a party is able to show sufficient cause within a reasonable time for its non-appearance in the Labour Court/Tribunal when it was set ex parte, the Labour Court/Tribunal is bound to consider such an application and the application cannot be rejected on the ground that it was filed after the award had become enforceable. The Labour Court/Tribunal is not functus officio after the award has become enforceable as far as setting aside an ex parte award Page 2 of 4 is concerned. It is within its powers to entertain an application as per the scheme of the Act and in terms of the rules of natural justice. It needs to be restated that the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is a welfare legislation intended to maintain industrial peace. In that view of the matter, certain powers to do justice have to be conceded to the Labour Court/Tribunal, whether we call it ancillary, incidental or inherent.
36. We may also add that when an application for setting aside an ex parte award is made at the instance of the management, the Labour Court/Tribunal has to balance equities. The appeals are hence disposed of as follows. The awards are remitted to the Labour Court for consideration as to whether there was sufficient cause for non- appearance of the management. Since the litigation has been pending for a long time, we direct the appellants to pay an amount of Rs.1,00,000/- in each case to the workmen by way of provisional payment. However, we make it clear that the payment is subject to the final outcome of the awards and will be adjusted appropriately. We record our deep appreciation rendered by Mr. Shekhar Naphade."
5. He, therefore, prays for remitting the matter to learned Labour Court, so that the Petitioners would get an opportunity to file an application for setting aside the ex-parte award by filing a properly constituted application.
6. Taking note of the submission made by learned counsel for the parties, this Court disposes of the writ petition with a direction that in view of the ratio in Haryana Suraj Malting Limited (Supra), the Petitioners are at liberty to file an application before the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bhubaneswar to set aside the ex-parte award dated 19th April, 2025 passed in Industrial Dispute Case No.31 of 2024 within a Page 3 of 4 period of three weeks hence and in that event, the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bhubaneswar shall do well to consider such application in accordance with law giving opportunity of hearing to the Parties concerned.
7. It is made clear that this Court has not expressed any opinion on the merit of the case of the Petitioners to seek a remedy to set aside the impugned ex-parte award.
8. The Writ Petition is accordingly disposed of.
(K.R. Mohapatra)
Judge
(Savitri Ratho)
Subhalaxmi Judge
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signed by: SUBHALAXMI PRIYADARSHANI
SAHOO
Page 4 of 4
Reason: Authentication
Location: Orissa High Court, Cuttack
Date: 17-Oct-2025 19:52:48