Serial No.8 REGULAR CAUSE LIST IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT SRINAGAR WP(C) 1822/2023 CM (4250/2023) Mr Pascal Postel and Ors. …Petitioner(s) Through: Mr. Mujeeb Omar Fazali, Advocate Vs. Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court and Anr. ...Respondent(s) Through: None CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAHUL BHARTI, JUDGE ORDER 17.09.2025 1. The respondent No. 2-Sajad Ahmad Bhat, was engaged by Franco Indian Pharmaceutical Private Limited, a Mumbai based company, to be its Medical Representative and at the relevant point of time was posted in Srinagar. 2. The engagement of respondent No. 2-Sajad Ahmad Bhat was as Area Manager. 3. The respondent No. 2- Sajad Ahmad Bhat came to suffer disengagement from the service of Franco Indian Pharmaceutical Private Limited on 15.02.2019. 4. The respondent No. 2-Sajad Ahmad Bhat felt aggrieved of his said disengagement, which was reckoned by him to be offending the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and thus initiated proceedings before the Conciliation Officer i.e., Deputy Labour Commissioner, Kashmir in which the representatives/officials of the Franco Indian Pharmaceutical Private Limited were summoned to appear. 5. The conciliation proceedings resulted in failure on 17.12.2019 to which effect the Conciliation Officer concerned generated a failure report dated 24.12.2019 purportedly acting under Section 12(4) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 6. Instead of submitting the failure report to the concerned Government for onward course of action under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Conciliation Officer came to refer his conciliation report directly to the J&K Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar which was taken on File No. 1068/ITLC/2019 dated 27.12.2019. 7. The entertainment of the matter by the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar in the manner as done by submission of the failure report of the Conciliation Officer was objected to by the officials of the Franco Indian Pharmaceutical Private Limited by questioning the very availability of the jurisdiction of the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar without there being a statutory reference under Section 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 coming forth from the appropriate Government with respect to the legality and validity of the dismissal of the respondent No. 2-Sajad Ahmad Bhat. 8. Said objection of the Franco Indian Pharmaceutical Private Limited through its officials came to be overruled by the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar by virtue of an order dated 17.03.2023 which has come to be questioned in the present writ petition by the petitioners, all of whom are the officials of the Franco Indian Pharmaceutical Private Limited. 9. The respondent No. 2-Sajad Ahmad Bhat has appeared through his counsel Mr. Shahid Zamir, Advocate. 10. When this Court peruses the impugned order dated 17.03.2023 in the light of the position of law as envisaged under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, this Court is of the confirmed view that perhaps the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar was labouring under a misplaced conception about the position of law obtaining under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 11. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 had come to suffer an amendment in the year 2010, under the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act No. 24 of 2010 which lasted only up to 6th May, 2016, when by virtue of repealing an Amending Act, 2016 dated 6th May, 2016 passed by the Parliament of India, the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act No. 24 of 2010 as a whole was repealed. This position is forthcoming from the Gazette Notification of Repeal and Amending Act, 2016 as placed on record by the learned counsel for the petitioners. 12. Thus, by the time the respondent No. 2-Sajad Ahmad Bhat had come to agitate the issue about his disengagement/dismissal, the original position of law obtaining under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was that without any reference coming forth from the appropriate Government to the Industrial Tribunal/ Labour Court, no original proceedings could come forth on the file of the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar. 13. Thus, the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar fell into a manifest error of judgment by acting in ignorance of the true position of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 thereby rendering its order dated 17.03.2023 as bad in the eyes of law, which is accordingly set aside. 14. This Court directs the Conciliation Officer concerned, who had submitted the failure report dated 24.12.2019 to the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar to seek return of the said failure report from the Industrial Tribunal and resubmit it to the appropriate Government for the future course of action as envisaged under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 15. Copy of this order be forward to the Conciliation Officer, under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (Dy. Labour Commissioner, Kashmir), who had submitted the failure report dated 24.12.2019 to the Jammu & Kashmir Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Jammu & Kashmir, Srinagar for the sake of notice and compliance. (RAHUL BHARTI) JUDGE SRINAGAR: 17.09.2025 “Mir Arif”