DECISION ' These are appeals against the order of the Labour Court allowing the applications made by the respondents under section 75-A, I. It 0. And ordering their re-instatement with back benefits,
2. The respondents were in the permanent employment of the appellant. In June, 1976 they were not allowed to work on account of shortage of raw material with an assurance that they would be allowed to resume their duties on 16th August, 1976, But when on that date they went to the mill, they were again not permitted to work. Consequently, they served grievance notices and approached the Labour Court by making applications under section 25-A, I. R.
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3. The applications were resisted and various grounds were taken. One of the ground was that the applications were time-barred and, therefore, not maintainable.
4. Evidence was tendered by both the parties. On the assessment of the evidence the Labour Court passed the impugned order without deciding the question of limitation.
5. At the outset the learned counsel for the appellant urged before me that, although, the plea of limitation was taken, yet it was not decided by the Labour Court and, therefore, an illegality was committed. 1 entirely agree with this contention. Point of limitation was material and could not have been disregarded or ignored. It was the duty of the Labour Court to have decided the plea of limitation one way or the. Other. In view of this, I propose to remand the case without dealing with the merits of the case and other objections which may be raised by either party.
6. In result I allow the appeals and set aside the impugned order and remand the case to the Labour Court for deciding the question of limitation and then disposal of the case on the basis of the finding on that question. I wish to make it clear that it will be open to the parties to re-agitate their pleas with regard to the merits of the case in ease any fresh appeal has been filed by either party after the disposal of the case on the basis of the finding on the question of limitation.