Aurangabad Bench Of Bombay HC Witnesses Huge Crowd After It Orders Its Registrar To Distribute Dues To Sugar Mill Workers Before Diwali

The Union was agitating mainly on the ground that in spite of previous orders of the High Court as well as by the Supreme Court, no payment had been made so far to the persons who were entitled to receive those payments. It is to be noted that many of them passed away during the pendency of the matter.

Accordingly, a bench of Justice R.G. Avachat and Justice Sanjay A. Deshmukh directed, “The Registry shall disburse the amount to each of them on due verification of the claimants or persons to whom the amount is to be paid, latest by day after tomorrow (November 9, 2023). The amount that is being paid to the interveners would be adjusted towards their claim for wages or gratuity and/or interest thereon”.

Advocates Pradnya Talekar and Umakant Awate appeared for the Labour Union, Advocate Shrivallabh Panchpor appeared for the bank, and A.G.P. R.V. Dasalkar appeared for the State.

For the background, in 2011 the High Court had permitted the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank to shut down and sell of the Sugar mill, as it was a mortgaged property, but on a pre-condition that it would first pay the wages and other dues of the labourers.

Pursuant to which, by an order dated June 20, 2012, the High Court directed the sale proceeds to be deposited in a separate account i.e. “No lien Account” in the bank. It had directed the unpaid wages and other legal dues of the workers to be paid from the account once the dues are quantified by a competent court; and the provident fund dues to be deposited with the Provident Fund authorities, immediately.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court in the special leave petition preferred by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank Limited issued notice while directing the sale proceeds to be kept in a separate non-lien account to the extent of the workmen’s dues.

However, even before the Court could calculate and quantify the due amount, the liquidator of the sugar factory had withdrawn a huge amount and maintained only a meagre amount of 8 crores and appropriated the rest of the amount to the loan account without prior intimation to the Court. Therefore, the petitioners alleged contempt of the orders passed by the Court.

Subsequently, the Labour Court computed the wages, gratuity and other dues by 2019, after which pursuant to filing of the contempt petition the High Court issued a contempt notice to the Bank.

Then the High Court noting that the respondent-bank’s statement that sum of Rs.8,06,00,000/- will be deposited with the Court within a couple of weeks and that the same can be disbursed amongst the petitioners on pro-rata basis, had in its September 15, 2023 order observed, “The bank has deposited the amount in Lien account way back in 2014. The Bank, being in the banking business must have utilized the said amount for its business. We, therefore, direct the Bank to deposit with this Court total amount of Rs.16,12,00,000/-, out of which Rs.8,06,00,000/- is agreed to be deposited on or before September 25, 2023”.

Additionally, the Court pursuant to its previous directions, further noted in the order dated November 10, 2023 that two of the petitioners were hospitalised and the amount that was directed to be paid to them, therefore, could not be paid by the Registry on account of their verification to have not been made. Therefore, it further directed the Registry to pay their amount on the verification already made by the Liquidator of the Sugar Factory.

Cause Title: Sakhar Kamgar Union, Aurangabad Through its Secretary Lalmiya Gulabsha Shah v. State of Maharashtra and Others