NATIONAL GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD. through General-Manager vs PRESIDING OFFICER, PUNJAB LABOUR COURT
This petition for leave to appeal arose from a judgment of the Lahore High Court dismissing the petitioner-Company's constitutional petition against orders directing the payment of gratuity to a former employee under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. The core legal question was whether the extension of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 to commercial establishments by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001 precluded claims by employees whose employment or termination predated the amendment, and whether jurisdiction is determined at the commencement of proceedings. The Supreme Court held that the amending Ordinance extended the Act's operation to industrial and commercial establishments without restricting its benefits solely to persons appointed on or after the effective date, and that the jurisdiction of a tribunal is determinable at the commencement of proceedings. The Court established that the Payment of Wages Act is social, beneficial, and remedial legislation intended to provide a remedy, making commercial establishments amenable to its provisions upon the institution of proceedings.
- Whether the extension of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 to commercial establishments by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2001 restricts its benefits only to employees appointed on or after the amendment date?
- At what point in time is the jurisdiction of a tribunal determinable regarding the institution of proceedings?
- Whether a social, beneficial, and remedial statute like the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 applies to claims arising from periods prior to the amending ordinance when proceedings are initiated after its promulgation?
- Section 15(2), Payment of Wages Act 1936
- Section 1(4), Payment of Wages Act 1936
- Labour Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2001
' FAQIRMUHAMMAD KHOKHAR, J.---This petition for leave to appeal is directed against judgment dated 9-10-2003 passed by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, in Writ Petition No,1225 of 2003.
2. The respondent No,3 was employed as Office .Askstant in the petitioner-Company on 1-1-1989.
His services were terminated on 14-8-1998. He moved an application before the Commissioner, Workman's Compensation (the respondent No,2), under section 15(2) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) for payment of Rs,40,500 as gratuity for the period from 1-1- 1989 to 14-8-1998. The officers of the petitioner-Company were proceeded against ex parte on 29- 8-2002. Their application to set aside ex parte proceedings was also dismissed by the respondent No,2 on 7-11-2002 for want of prosecution. By order dated 28-11-2002, the respondent No,2 allowed the application of the respondent No,3 for, payment of the amount of gratuity. A second application against ex parte proceedings was also dismissed by the respondent No,2, by order dated 3-2-2003, with a direction for payment of gratuity of Rs,40,500 alongwith costs of Rs,8,000 in favour of the respondent No,3. Therefore, the petitioner moved Writ Petition No,1225 of 2003 which was dismissed by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, by the impugned judgment dated 9- 10-2003. Hence this petition for leave to appeal.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner argued that provisions of the Act were made applicable to a commercial establishments with effect from 1-7-2001 by virtue of the Labour Laws (Amendment)
Ordinance, LIII of 2001. Therefore, the claim of the respondent No,3 for payment of gratuity by the petitioner for the period from 1-1-1989 to 14-8-1998 was not entertainable. Reference was made to the case of Ex-Lt. Col. Anwar Aziz (PA-7122) v. Federation of Pakistan and 2 others PLD 2001 SC 549 wherein it was held that the High Court was competent to exercise Constitutional jurisdiction if an order was found to be without jurisdiction or coram non judice.
4. We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner at length. By reading original subsection
(4) of section 1 of the Act, we find that, in the first instance, the provisions of the Act were made applicable for the payment of wages to persons employed by a factory or a railway administration.
However, the said provisions was amended by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Ordinance No,LIII of 2001, with effect from 1-7-2001, whereby the operation of the Act was extended to persons employed in any industrial or commercial establishment. It does not mean that the benefit of the said provision would be restricted only to such employees who were appointed or employed on or after the said date and that the earlier employees were not governed by the Act. The Act is social, beneficial and remedial in nature. The object of the Act is to regulate the payment of wages to certain class of persons employed in a factory, industrial or commercial establishment or railways.
The purpose of the amending Ordinance seems to be to provide a remedy to the persons employed in industrial or commercial establishments.
' Therefore, it can safely be said that the petitioner-Company had become amenable to the provisions of the Act when the respondent No,3 had made an application. It is well-settled that jurisdiction of a Tribunal is determinable at the commencement of proceedings unless contrary intention is expressed or implied in the relevant statute. Reference may usefully be made to the case of Settlement and Rehabilitation Commissioner, Hyderabad Division, Karachi and another v.
Mannu Khan and 3 others 1973 SCM R 62. The impugned judgment does not suffer from any legal infirmity so as to warrant interference by this Court. Even otherwise, this is not a fit case for grant of leave to appeal.
5. For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any merit in this petition which is dismissed and leave to appeal is refused accordingly.