Writ Petition Relation To Industrial Dispute To Not Be Listed Unless 'Exceptional Circumstances' Disclosed In Synopsis, Opening Paragraphs: Delhi HC [Read Judgment]

"The law is well settled by the Supreme Court that a writ petition should not be entertained in respect of industrial disputes for which a statutory remedy is available under the Industrial Disputes Act unless 'Exceptional circumstances' are made out. The Supreme Court further held that if the writ involves disputed questions of fact, the writ petition should not be entertained. The writ jurisdiction is a discretionary jurisdiction and the discretion should not ordinarily be exercised, if there is an alternative remedy available to the petitioner", appreciated the Single Bench.

The bench inferred that the Sole Test laid down by the Supreme Court for entertaining a writ petition relating to an industrial dispute is the existence of 'Exceptional circumstances'. If the Court is satisfied on the existence of 'Exceptional circumstances', then and only then, the Court shall proceed to ascertain whether the writ involves disputed questions of fact. If the Court finds 'Exceptional circumstances' but the writ involves disputed questions of fact, then the writ petition shall not be entertained, meaning thereby that the writ petition may be entertained only if the Court is satisfied firstly, on the existence of 'Exceptional circumstances' and secondly, the writ petition does not involve disputed questions of fact.

"If there are no 'Exceptional circumstances' for exercise of writ jurisdiction, the writ petition is liable to be dismissed on this ground alone. The Second Test as to whether the writ involves disputed questions of fact is to be applied if the First Test is satisfied and the writ involves 'Exceptional circumstances' meaning thereby that if there are no 'Exceptional circumstances', the writ Court is not required to consider whether the writ involves disputed questions of fact or not. To clarify it further, if there are no 'Exceptional circumstances', the writ petition in respect of an industrial dispute cannot be entertained even if the writ involves undisputed questions of fact", deciphered the bench.

As examples of what has been deemed to be an "exceptional circumstance" for invoking the writ jurisdiction by the court instead of alternate statutory remedy, the bench cited the following cases: The claim for compensation against the Railways where in the middle of the night, a goods train broke the dead end of the railway track and thereafter, hit the boundary wall of Old Delhi Railway Station whereupon the boundary wall fell down and the three persons sleeping on the pavement were crushed under the boundary wall; another claim for payment of compensation to a citizen who sacrificed his life in saving two MTNL workmen stuck in a man-hole; compensation on the death of workmen hired by the contractor of CPWD for cleaning the septic tank at a CRPF Camp, etc.