Pooja Saroj v. Ministry of Labour and Employment
In the High Court of Delhi
WP(C) 2595/2022
Before Justice Prathiba Singh
Decided on February 10, 2022

Relevancy of the Case: Directions for uploading orders of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal online

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Constitution of India, 1950 (Article 226)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The fifth respondent, ICICI Bank, terminated the petitioner’s services because she did not join the branch she was transferred to.
• The court directed the petitioner to seek remedies in accordance with the law, challenging the transfer order before the appropriate authority.
• According to the order, the petitioner approached the Central Government Industrial Tribunal (CGIT), but on the last day of the hearing, i.e., January 01, 2022, the matter was adjourned to April 06, 2022. The order for the same was not available on the CGIT’s website.
• So, the petitioner filed the present petition regarding the status of her case before the CGIT. She also highlights the non-availability of proceeding sheets, orders, and other data related to the pending cases.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the order of the said dates was unavailable on the website, along with data relating to the pending cases. The judgements passed by the CGIT were also not uploaded on time. The litigants are being prejudiced as only one bench of the CGIT is functioning. The enormous increase in pending cases was a shortage of employees.

Opinion of the Bench

• The court considered directing the parties for mediation while ensuring that the bank issues a proper relieving letter to the petitioner and clearing her statutory dues.

Final Decision

• The court directed the petitioner and the fifth respondent to appear before the Mediation Centre.
• The court directed the Registrar, CGIT, to file an affidavit detailing the steps taken from the court’s directions in the case of South Delhi Municipal Corporation v. Satish & Ors. Moreover, the court ordered the Ministry to file a status report on the appointment of adjudicating officers and the list of functioning CGIT benches.