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nal questioned its correctness on the ground that although four agencies were given up in 1960 no retrenchment was made during that year, that on the other hand 17 temporary hands were engaged, that the evidence of the union's secretary showed that after the retrenchment workload of the remaining employees had increased, and lastly, that retrenchment could have been avoided by transferring the employees concerned to other branches of the company. Though the Tribunal gave a clear finding that the company had not resorted to retrenchment with the intention of victimisation, yet it held that "the allegations made by the union (as to parochial considerations) do not appear to be unfounded or unreasonable". The reasons given for this observation were that the company's head office was at Madras, that the chairman and the directors of the company were from Madras and that the agencies given up in Madras were less in number than in Calcutta. On these findings the Tribunal held that the scheme of reorganisation was not sufficiently established, that mere surrender of agencies was no proof of such a scheme that therefore, a good case for retrenchment was not made out,. that the company had failed to establish the exact number of surplus employees and the extent of retrenchment, that it failed to observe the principle laid down in sec. 25G, that the said notice dated June 29, 1961 was not in accordance with rule 77 of the West Bengal Industrial Disputes Rules, 1958 as the notice was of June 29, 1961 while retrenchment was to take effect from, July 1, 1961. The Tribunal held that the retrenchment, therefore, was not with immediate effect, the proviso. to that rule did not apply and a notice of one month, aS required by sub-cl. 1 of' that rule, was necessary and that not having been done the retrenchment was invalid as being in breach of sec. 25F(c). In accordance with these findings the Tribunal ordered reinstatement and payment to the 52 employees of back wages as from July 1, 1961.

Aggrieved by this order the company,filed a writ petition for certiorari which was heard by a learned Single Judge of the High Court. The learned Single Judge held that' an employer has the right to reorganise his business in 'any manner he likes for the purpose of economy or convenience,. that a Tribunal, therefore, cannot question its' propriety, the only limitation being that it should be bona fide and not with the object of victimising employees. He observed that though the-Tribunal had found that the union had failed to establish victimisation or any unfair labour practice, it had, yet, come to an inconsistent finding that the probability that the union's activity would be weakened by large scale retrenchment could not be ignored or overlooked. The learned Judge found that in coming to this finding the Tribunal acted not upon evidence but on mere conjectures. He also held that interview of the evidence the Tribunal Was in patent error in rejecting the company's case of relinquishment of agencies and the resultant retrenchment. He further held that the finding of the Tribunal that the policy of reorganisation was not bona fide but was for parochial consideration was based on inferences for which there were no justifying premises. Lastly, he held that the Tribunal's finding that the company did not establish retrenchment of 52 employees was not justified as the ground given by it, namely, (1) that retrenchment could have been avoided by transferring the employees concerned to other centres, (2) that the principle of "last come first go" was not followed, and (3) that the procedure under sec. 25F(c) was not observed were not warranted by the evidence.

492. by an employer for reasons of economy or convenience and it has been introduced in all the areas of its business, the fact that its implementation would lead to the discharge of some of the employees would have no material bearing on the question as to whether the scheme was adopted by the employer bona fide or not In the circumstances, an industrial tribunal considering the issue relating to retrenchment, should not attach any importance to the consequences of reorganisation. The resulting discharge and retrenchment would have to be considered as an inevitable, though unfortunate, consequence of such a scheme. It also held that where the finding of a tribunal is based on wrong and 'erroneous assumption of certain material facts, such a finding would be perverse. A recent decision in Ghatge & Patil Concern's Employees' Union v. Ghatge & Patel (Transport) (P) Ltd.(x) was a case of an employer reorganising his business from conducting a transport business himself through employees engaged by him to conducting it through a contract system where under he let out his motor trucks to persons who, before this change, were his employees. Admittedly, this was done because he could not implement some of the provisions of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961. The change over to the contract system was held by the Tribunal not to have been effected for victimising the employees. The employees had voluntarily resigned and hired the employer's trucks on contract basis. It was held that a person must be considered free to so arrange his business that he avoids a regulatory law and its penal consequences which he has, without the arrangement, no proper means of obeying. In Workmen Subong Tea Estate v. The Outgoing Management of Subong Tea Estate(a). this Court laid down the following propositions: (1) that the management can retrench its employees only for proper reasons, which means that it must not be actuated by any motive of victimisation or any unfair labour practice, (2) that it is for the management to decide the strength of its labour force, for the number of workmen required to carry out efficiently the work in his industrial undertaking must always be left to be determined by the management in its discretion, (3) if the number of employees exceeded the reasonable and legitimate needs of the undertaking it is open to the management to retrench them, (4) workmen may become surplus on the ground of rationalisation or economy reasonably or bona fide adopted by the management or on the ground of other industrial or trade reasons, and (5) the right to affect retrenchment cannot normally be challenged but when there is a dispute about the validity of retrenchment the impugned retrenchment must be shown as'justified on proper reasons,- i.e., -that' it was not capricious or without rhyme or reason.

(b) that though development of manufacturing activity was taken up in Madras, no such activity was undertaken in Kidderpore, and (c) that the company should have developed its manufacturing activity in Kidderpore simultaneously with the surrender of the agencies. It is obvious that while reorganising its business it is not incumbent on the company to develop its manufacturing side at the very place where it has surrendered its agencies, namely, Calcutta, nor to do so at the very same time. These considerations which the Tribunal took into account were totally extraneous to the issue before it and the Tribunal ought not to have allowed its mind to be influenced by such considerations and thereby disabling itself from viewing the issue from proper perspective. It was also beyond its competence to go. into the question of propriety of the company's decision to reorganise its business. Having come to the conclusion that the said policy was not actuated by any motive of victimisation or unfair labour practice and therefore was bona fide, any consideration as to its reasonableness or propriety was clearly extraneous. Therefore, its finding that the company had failed to establish that it was profitable was incompetent. It is for the employer to decide whether a particular policy in running his business will be profitable, economic or convenient and we know of no provision in the industrial law which confers any power on the tribunal to inquire into such a decision so long as it is not actuated by any consideration for victimisation or any such unfair labour practice.