DECISION These are six appeals filed by the appellants against a common impugned order, dated 31-3-1986 passed by the Sind Labour Court No.1, Karachi, who had dismissed the grievance petitions of the appellants under section 25-A, I. R.O. 1969. As the facts and circumstances of the common impugned order in all these six appeals are similar, therefore, I propose to dispose of all these appeals by this single decision.
2. Brief facts of the cases are that the appellants claimed to have worked with the respondent establishment as Book Binders for more than three years quite satisfactorily but, on 6-4-1984, without assigning any reason, the services of the appellants were terminated. Being aggrieved by this action of the respondent establishment, the appellants alleged to have served their grievance notices, as per law, upon the respondent establishment through register post, A/D dated 3-7-1984.
It was alleged by the appellants that as their grievance notices were returned undelivered with the postal remarks refused, therefore, they submitted grievance petitions before the Labour Court.
3. The respondents establishment resisted the petitions on the two main legal objections, namely,
(1) that as the appellants were never employees of them, therefore, the question of their removal/ termination does not arise; and (2) that the petitions of the appellants were not maintainable, particularly, when there was no relationship of 'master and servant' between them, hence, they have no right, guaranteed or secured under any law, award or settlement.
4. Both the parties filed their affidavit-in-evidence and they were duly cross-examined. The learned Labour Court thereafter dismissed the grievance petitions of the appellants, hence six appeals.
5. I have heard Mr. Ali Ahmed, the learned Advocate for the appellants and Mr. Khurshed Ahmed Siddiqi, the learned representative on behalf of the respondent establishment and have also carefully perused the record and proceedings of the case. It is an admitted position on record that the appellants had miserably failed to establish the mandatory service of their grievance notice upon the respondent establishment before invoking the jurisdiction of the learned Labour Court.
The witness of the appellants, namely, Tayyab Hussain Postman, had himself belied the contentions of the appellants that they had served the grievance notice upon the respondent establishment. Further, it is an admitted position that the witness of the appellants, namely, Mr. Qurban Ali Abbasi, Assistant Director (Registration), West Division, Karachi had not troubled to officially verify from the respondent establishment, before issuing Registration Certificate of the alleged workers union, whether the office-bearers and other members of the said union were actual employees of the establishment, or not after this admission, there remains only bare words of the appellant that all these six appellants were employees of the respondent establishment and this type of evidence cannot be relied upon. I, therefore, hold that the appellant have totally failed to prove the relationship of 'master and servant' between them and the respondent establishment, so the learned Labour Court was quite correct in dismissing the grievance petitions of the appellants on these two issues.
6. For the reason, stated by me above, I see no reasons to interfere with the impugned order and would maintain the same. Accordingly, I would dismiss these six appeals.
M. Y. H. /937/Lb. S