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In the light of these facts, it is clear that the respondent as well as the petitioner have suffered ex-parte awards dated 10/08/2000 and 11/08/2004 respectively and both have sought the vacating of these two awards beyond 30 days from the date of their publication.

8. Be that as it may, the issue before me is as to when did the Labour Court become "FUNCTUS OFFICIO" and therefore lost jurisdiction over Ref.(IDA) No.22/2004 (Old No.90/1996). It requires no debate that once the Labour Court became "FUNCTUS OFFICIO", all subsequent orders passed would be rendered a nullity as the Labour Court was divested of this jurisdiction.

khs/July 2015/11605-14 (d)

14. The issue as to when would the Award become enforceable, thereby, rendering the Labour Court / Tribunal "FUNCTUS OFFICIO"

is no longer res integra. The Honourable Supreme Court dealt with the issue of the Labour Court / Tribunal becoming "FUNCTUS OFFICIO" in the case of Grindlays' Bank Vs. Central Government Industrial Tribunal and others [1981 1 LLJ 327 = AIR 1981 SC 606, which was decided on 12.12.1980. The two questions that arose for the consideration in the Civil Appeal before the Apex Court are set out in paragraph No.3 as under:-

15. The Apex Court answered the said issues by its observations in paragraph No.14, which reads as under :-

" 14. The contention that the Tribunal had become functus officio and therefore, had no jurisdiction to set aside the ex parte award and that the Central Government alone could set it khs/July 2015/11605-14 (d) aside, does not commend to us. Sub-section (3) of Section 20 of the Act provides that the proceedings before the Tribunal would be deemed to continue till the date on which the award becomes enforceable under Section 17A. Under Section 17A of the Act, an award becomes enforceable on the expiry of 30 days from the date of its publication under Section 17. The proceedings with, regard to a reference under Section 10 of the Act are, therefore, not deemed to be concluded until the expiry of 30 days from the publication of the award. Till then the Tribunal retains jurisdiction over the dispute referred to it for adjudication and upto that date it has the power to entertain an application in connection with such dispute. That stage is not reached till the award becomes enforceable under Section 17A. In the instant case, the Tribunal made the ex parte award on December 9, 1976. That award was published by the Central Government in the Gazette of India dated December 25, 1976. The application for setting aside the ex parte award was filed by respondent No. 3, acting on behalf of respondents Nos. 5 to 17 on January 19, 1977 i.e., before the expiry of 30 days of its publication and was, therefore, rightly entertained by the Tribunal. It had jurisdiction to entertain it and decide it on merits. It was, however, urged that on April 12, 1977 the date on which the impugned order was passed, the Tribunal had in any event become functus officio. We cannot accede to this argument. The jurisdiction of the Tribunal had to be seen on the date of the application made to it and not the date on which it passed the impugned order. There is no finality attached to an ex parte award because it is always khs/July 2015/11605-14 (d) subject to its being set aside on sufficient cause being shown. The Tribunal had the power to deal with an application properly made before it for setting aside the ex parte award and pass suitable orders."

khs/July 2015/11605-14 (d)

18. By way of an illustration, if an Award dated 1st of January, 2015 is published on 1st of March, 2015, the Award would not become enforceable till 31st March, 2015. It would become enforceable on 1st April 2015 u/s 17 and the Court / Tribunal would become "FUNCTUS OFFICIO". Therefore, if the aggrieved party receives the copy of the ex parte award, say on 20th March, 2015, the thirty days for filing an application for recalling / vacating the ex parte award would be rendered untenable if filed on or after 1 st April, 2015 since the Court / Tribunal would have become "FUNCTUS OFFICIO" from 1st April, 2015.