# LTD v. THEIR WORKMEN - **Citation:** [1968] 1 S.C.R. 307 - **Court:** Supreme Court of India - **Decided:** 1967-08-22 - **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 515 of 1966 - **Bench:** M. Hidayatullah, C. A. Vaidialingam - **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/ltd-v-their-workmen-4125 - **Pages:** 6 ## Headnote Industrial Dispute-Dismissal of workman afte'r domestic enquiry-Irregularities. al!eged-lnte'rference b11 Tribunal, if justified. The driver of the delivery van of the appellant..:ompany, was entrusted with some tyres for delivery at various addresses and he failed to account for two of the tyres. After investigation, a domestic enquiry was held and the minutes of the enquiry were submitted to the Manager who gave notice to the driver to show cause why he should not be dismissed. The driver showed cause but the Manager ordered his dismissal. The respondent-union of the. workers then raised an industrial dispute which was referred to the Tribunal. The Tribunal set aside the dismissal holding that the enquiry was opposed to principles of natural justice and that the conelusion was perverse, In appeal by the Company to this Court, Held: Ordinarily in all cases in which the facts . are in controversy the procedure to be followed is, that before a delinquent is asked anything, all the evidence against him must be led. The situation may be different when the accusation is based on a matter of record or, the facts are admitted, in which case, it may be permissible to draw his attention to the evidence on record and ask for his explanation. Even in such a case, the delinquent should be asked whether he would like. to make a statement first or wait till the evidence is over, but failure to do so does not ipso facto vitiate the enquiry unless prejudice is caused or he had objected to the particular course that was followed. Ultimately, it is a question of justice and fair-play depending on the facts of each case. [311A-D] In the present case the minutes showed that the driver had every opportunity to controvert the case against him, and to prove his case, and that he was never at a disadvantage. All that the Tribunal could do was to see that the domestic enquiry was properly conducted, and, since it was so conducted, the Tribunal was In error In exercising appellate powers by coming to a different conclusion. [310E; 3!2G] Tata Oi! Mills Co. v. The Workmen. f!9631 2 L.L.J.78; Sur Enamel & Stamping Works v. The Workmen. tl964] 2 S.C.R. 165; [1963] 2 LL.J. 367; Meenglas Tea Estate v. Its Workmen, [1964) 3 S.C.R. 616; [1963) 2 L.L.J. 392; Associated Cement Companies v. Their Work. me'!· [1964] 3 S.C.R. 632; [1963] 2 L.L.J. 396 and The Central Bank of India v. Karunamoy Banerjee [1968) 1 S.C.R. 251; referred to. ## Text A EMPLOYERS OF FIRESTONE TYRE AND RUBBER CO. B c D E r G R LTD. v. THEIR WORKMEN August 22, 1967 [M. HIDAYATULLAH AND C. A. VAIDIALINGAM, JJ.J Industrial Dispute-Dismissal of workman afte'r domestic enquiry-Irregularities. al!eged-lnte'rference b11 Tribunal, if justified. The driver of the delivery van of the appellant..:ompany, was entrusted with some tyres for delivery at various addresses and he failed to account for two of the tyres. After investigation, a domestic enquiry was held and the minutes of the enquiry were submitted to the Manager who gave notice to the driver to show cause why he should not be dismissed. The driver showed cause but the Manager ordered his dismissal. The respondent-union of the. workers then raised an industrial dispute which was referred to the Tribunal. The Tribunal set aside the dismissal holding that the enquiry was opposed to principles of natural justice and that the conelusion was perverse, In appeal by the Company to this Court, Held: Ordinarily in all cases in which the facts . are in controversy the procedure to be followed is, that before a delinquent is asked anything, all the evidence against him must be led. The situation may be different when the accusation is based on a matter of record or, the facts are admitted, in which case, it may be permissible to draw his attention to the evidence on record and ask for his explanation. Even in such a case, the delinquent should be asked whether he would like. to make a statement first or wait till the evidence is over, but failure to do so does not ipso facto vitiate the enquiry unless prejudice is caused or he had objected to the particular course that was followed. Ultimately, it is a question of justice and fair-play depending on the facts of each case. [311A-D] In the present case the minutes showed that the driver had every opportunity to controvert the case against him, and to prove his case, and that he was never at a disadvantage. All that the Tribunal could do was to see that the domestic enquiry was properly conducted, and, since it was so conducted, the Tribunal was In error In exercising appellate powers by coming to a different conclusion. [310E; 3!2G] Tata Oi! Mills Co. v. The Workmen. f!9631 2 L.L.J.78; Sur Enamel & Stamping Works v. The Workmen. tl964] 2 S.C.R. 165; [1963] 2 LL.J. 367; Meenglas Tea Estate v. Its Workmen, [1964) 3 S.C.R. 616; [1963) 2 L.L.J. 392; Associated Cement Companies v. Their Work. me'!· [1964] 3 S.C.R. 632; [1963] 2 L.L.J. 396 and The Central Bank of India v. Karunamoy Banerjee [1968) 1 S.C.R. 251; referred to. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 515 of 1966. Appeal by special leave from the Award dated November 23, 1964, of the Labour Court, Andhra Pradesh in Industrial Dispute No. 5 of 1964. I07 308 8Ul'SllOl ,COUBT BBPOllTS (1968] 1 s.0.11. S. V. Gupte, Solicitor supplied a shorter number of tyres than that given in the invoices and to his statement before Mr. Coyajee that he would state his case fully. In these circum· stances, it is hardly possible to say that the workman was at a disadvantage in any way. We may leave for the present ground No. (b) and proceed to C consider the others. Ground No. (c) was not a ground of complaint before the Tribunal. This ground was made out by the Tribunal. In fact these statements were not included in the record of the en· quiry. Nor were they made the basis of any conclusion.- As to ground No. (d) it is sufficient to say that the minutes were hardly needed as the workman was present personally and had conducted the defence. If he needed ·to read the record he could have easily D asked for an inspection and we have no doubt in our mind that he would have been given such an inspection. The minutes show an utmost consideration at all stages of the need for a proper defence. The Tribunal equated the domestic enquiry to enquiries under Art. 31 I of the Constitution which was hardly proper. · It seems to us that the enquiring officer afforded every opporE tunity to Subramaniam to controvert or prove his case. Subramaniam was informed of the char.~e very clearly, the witnesses were examined in his oresence and he was allowed to cross-examine them fully. A true record was kept. He was given an opportunity to lead evidence and the enquiry officer and the manager gave him a full chance to explain, after apprising him in detail of the findings tentatively reached. The evidence of Das was not dealt with F in detail but as Das was not concerned with the loading operation and his evidence was not apparently accepted that Subramaniam had not removed the tyres. Das was apparently taken to support Subramaniam 's claim that the tyres were not loaded at all, a conclusion not reached by the management on evidence. This leaves over the contention that before examining the witnesses Subramaniam was subjected to a cross-examination. This 0 was said to offend the principles of natural justice and reliance was placed on Tata Oil Mills Company Ltd., v. Its Workmen and Anr.('), Sur Enamel & Stamping Works Ltd. v. Their Workmen('). Meenglas Tea Estate v. Its Workmen(') and Associated Cement Companies v. Their Workmen & Anr.('). ,.,L_ ______ ---·----------~---------- (1) [1963] 2 L.L.J. 78. (3) [1963] 2 L.L.J. 392 (2) [1963] 2 L.L.J. 367. (4) [1963] 2 L.L.J. 396. B ' A. B c D E F G B 6IRESTONE V. THEIR WORKMEN (Hidayatullah, J.) 311 These cases no doubt lay down that before a delinquent is asked anything, all the evidence against him must be led. This cannot be an invariable rule in all cases. The situation is different where the accusation is based on a matter of redord or the facts are admitted. In such a case it may be permissib\e to draw the atten$ion of the delinquent to the evidence on the record which goes against him and which if he cannot satisfactorily explain must lead' to a conclusion of guilt. In certain cases it may even be fair to the delinquent to take his version first so that the enquiry may cover the point of difference and the witnesses may be questi.oned properly on the aspect of the case suggested by him. It is all a question of justice and fairplay. If the second procedure leads to a just decision of the disputed points and is fairer to the delinquent than the ordinary procedure of examining evidence against him first, no exception can be taken to it. It is, however, wise to ask the delinquent whether he would like to make a statement first or wait till the evidence is over but the failure to question him in th!s way does not ipso facto vitiate the enquiry unless prejudice is caused. It is only when the person enquired against seems to have been held at a disadvantage or has objected to such a course that the enquiry may be said to be vitiated. It must, however, be emphasised that in all cases in which the facts in controversy are disputed the procedure ordinarily to be followed is the one laid down by this Court in the cited oases. The procedure of examining the delinquent first may be adopted in a clear case only. As illustration we may mention one such case which was recently before us. There a bank clerk had allowed overdrafts to customers much beyond the limits sanctioned by the bank. The clerk had no authority to do so. Befbre the enquiry commenced he admitted his fault and asked to be excused. He was questioned. first to find out if there were any extenuating circumstances before the formal evidence was led to complete the picture of his guilt. We held that the enquiry did not olfen~ any principles of natural justice and was proper (see The Central Bank of India Ltd. v. Karunamoy Banerjee('). In the ·present case Subramaniam had complained earlier that his version ought to have been elicited first before enquiry against him was ordered. This is exactly what was done by the enquiring officer. We had the whole of Subramaniam's statement read to us and found nothing which we can say was unfair. The enquiriiig officer gave him an interpreter after ascertaining if he had any objection to the person selected, asked him to reply in English or Telugu as he preferred, invited him to call some workman to assist him, asked him the names of the witnesses he wished to examine and whether he wanted any further time for the preparation of his defence. He was then questioned about the loading of tyres in his van,· the invoices he had signed and whether he had checked the tyres loaded. He was next asked what route he had followed, (1) (1968) 1 S.C.R. 251. 312· 8Ul'llEllB COURT RllPOllTS (1968) l 8.C.R. whether there was a chance of pilferage en route and whether he A suspected any person of having interfered with the van. He was also asked if he was present when the stock was checked. He denied certain details of this stock taking. The issue was thus narrowed to the fact whether 8 tyres were loaded or 6, it being the case of the Company that 8 tyres were loaded and that of Subramaniam that only 6 tyres were loaded, but his receipt for 8 tyres was obtained. B The witnesses who loaded the tyres were then called and were examined searchingly by the Presiding Officer and cross-examined by Subramaniam. No doubt some of the questions appeared to be leading but they were respecting the matter of record and too much legalism cannot be expected from a domestic enquiry of this character. The officer asked Subramaniam again and again whether he was defending himself properly or not and Subramaniam always C expressed his satisfaction. In these circumstances, we do not see how the enquiry can be said to have offended any principle of natural justice at all. The Tribunal mechanically applied the dicta of this Court without noticing that the facts here were entirely different from those in the cited cases and the observations covered those cases where all or most of the facts were contested and could not be made applicaD ble to cases where a greater part of the evidence was a matter of written record and the difference was narrow. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the enquiry was properly conducted. As to the evidence of Das it is obvious that Das was supporting Subramaniam in his statement that no tyres were lost during the journey which supported the version that 6 tyres instead of 8 were actually loaded. It is curious that Das never left the van even when SubraE maniam went out and on the solitary occasidn when Das left the van Subnrmaniam was in the company of another officer of the Company at the Depot. The evidence of Subramaniam and Das taken together excludes the possibility of loading of 8 tyres. And this is haw Das comes into the picture. It is obvious that the enquiring officer and the Manager relied upon the evidence of those who loaded the tyres supported as it was by the admission several F times repeated by Subramaniam that he had checked the tyres at the time of loading. In other words, the Management refused to believe Subramaniam even though he was supported by Das. This the Management was entirely within its right in doing and the Tribunal was in error in exercising appellate powers by coming to a different conclusion. All that the Tribunal could do was to see that the enquiry was properly conducted. As in our opinion the enquiry G was so conducted the decision of the Tribunal cannot be supported. The appeal therefore succeeds and will be allowed but in the circumstances of the case we make no order about costs. On behalf of the Company it was stated that the amount paid to the workman during the pendency of the appeal as part of the wages will not be asked to be returned. H V.P.S. Appeal allowed.