Shriyadita Srivastava and Udhav Mittal
Effecting of service refers to the delivery of a writ, summons, or other legal papers to the person required to respond to them. The effecting of service is an essential step for the initiation of a lawsuit and for the court to assert its jurisdiction over the parties and the suit.
Over years, it has been observed that matters involving Workman and Management , where award by the Labour Court is challenged before a High Court, service to the Workmen/Management consumes a substantial amount of time as the awards do not contain the contact details of the Workmen or the Management. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when service is being done through electronic mode, the effecting of service has proved to be even challenging, and matters continue to remain pending for several months without service being effected, making it difficult for the workmen to even move applications for release of litigation expenses or any part of the awarded money. Hence, such a delay is not only detrimental to the smooth and swift functioning of courts, but also the access to justice for workmen. Therefore, it is imperative that the Workmen and the Management are served at the earliest possible occasion and, in fact, advance copies are served upon them even before the matter is listed. This would also enable Courts to explore if any settlements are possible between the Management and the Workmen on the first date of hearing. The recent judgement by the Delhi High Court judgement in Director General of Works (CPWD) v. Laljeet Yadav and Ors., by Justice Pratibha M. Singh must be given credit for recognising this issue and initiating orders to overcome the same.
In this judgement, Justice Pratibha M. Singh issued the following directions to Labour Courts, Authorities and Tribunals which are dealing with disputes between Workmen and Management, including those disputes under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 etc., relating to suspension, termination etc.:
- Labour Courts, Authorities and Tribunals should include the complete details of the authorized representative of the Management in the cause title/memo of parties, including the mobile number and email address of the Management, in the final awards/orders passed by them.
- Further, it is noticed that the beneficiaries in respect of the awards and orders are the individual Workmen who are represented through Unions in the Labour Courts, Authorities and Tribunals. However, the beneficiaries in respect of the awards and orders are the individual Workmen, whose details are not available except their names.So, it has been directed that when awards and orders are passed by the Labour Courts, Authorities and Tribunals, the following details be added in the cause title which forms part of the orders/awards and/or judgements:
- permanent address of the Workmen along with any other address available on record;
- mobile number of the workmen or authorised signatory
- details of one of their immediate family members, for example, the spouse or child of the Workmen, if deemed appropriate,
- Aadhaar number/any other valid government identity card number of the Workmen.
These directions will enable 2 things:
- advance copies to be served upon the Management and the Workmen so that they can be represented on the first date when the Court hears the matters.
- expeditious delivery of notices upon the Management and Workmen, once the petition is entertained by the Court.
In our opinion this order will go a long way in solving the challenges pertaining to the effecting of service on parties.
The copy of the judgement is annexed herewith.
CLL
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