SABARI MILLS Sree Sabari Mills is a spinning mill with around 350 workers functioning in K.

Sathanur, Trichy till 1995. Due to various reasons the mill had to be closed. The various events following the closure are as follows: 1. Sree Sabari Mills had filed a closure application before the

Commissioner of Labour, Chennai. The Commissioner of Labour after hearing both the management and all the unions had passed orders on 28.11.1995 dismissing Sabaris closure application and denied permission for intended closure. The copy of the Order is enclosed as Annexure No.1 2. Following which Sree Sabari Mills had preferred a Writ Petition against the Order of the Commissioner of Labour in W.P.No.5325 of 1996. The Honble High Court of Madras was pleased to pass orders on 31 07 2003 in the aforesaid Writ Petition directing the State Government to refer the dispute regarding the closure to a Competent Tribunal/Labour Court as regard to the correctness of the Order passed by the Commissioner of Labour refusing permission for Closure. The same order also had a direction that Sree Sabari Mills not to remove any machinery or alienate their Property pending disposal of the final adjudication of the dispute. The Copy of Order passed in W.P.No.5325 of 1996 is enclosed as Annexure No.2. 3. Subsequently the Government of Tamil Nadu as per the direction of the Honble Madras High Court had passed a Government Order dated 23.02.2004 vide G.O.No.161 referring the subject dispute to the Labour Court, Coimbatore to adjudicate whether; (i) The Closure of Mill by the Management of Sree Sabari Mills is fair or not, and if not what kind of compensation are the workers eligible for? The Copy of the G.O. is enclosed as Annexure No.3.

4. Based on the G.O. Labour Court, Coimbatore had taken up the reference as I.D.No.74 of 2004 and passed an award on 04.08.2004 contending that Petitioners are called absent, no representation hence I.D. is dismissed and thus reference is closed. The Award actually had been wrongly typed mentioning the Unions as the Petitioners and the Management as the Respondent. The Copy of the Award is enclosed as Annexure No.4. Subsequently in 2007 one of the Union leader had filed an Interlocutory Application in the I.D. to amend the Wrong Cause Title of the award which was typed erroneously. The management of Sree Sabari Mills had filed its counter in the application contending that both sides should be heard before deciding to amend the award. The Copy of the Counter is enclosed as Annexure No.5. The Amendment application was also dismissed for default as no representation from both sides. The copy of the docket order is enclosed as Annexure No.6. 5. In 2011 the Labour and Employment Department had passed a G.O. for getting relief under the Textile Workers Rehabilitation Scheme vide G.O. (Rt) No.47 dated 01.02.2011 had declared Sree Sabari Mills as closed under Section 25(O) of the Industrial Disputes Act,1947 and the date of closure of the mill is effective from 20.02.1996. The copy of the G.O. is enclosed as Annexure No.7. QUERIES: In the light of the G.O. (Rt) No.47 dated 01/02/2011 declaring Sree Sabari Mills closed under Section 25(O) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 we would like to know: (i) Whether the directions issued by the Honble High Court of Madras in W.P.No.5325 of 1996 is valid, subsisting and in force?

(ii)

Further in the light of the above referred G.O. can we assume that the directions issued by the Honble High Court of Madras, has been satisfied in toto?

(iii) (iv)

Whether the subject G.O. issued by the Government have an overriding effect over the Orders of the Honble Court? Whether alienation of the some immovable property belonging to Sree Sabari Mills would be considered as violation of the High Court Orders dated 31 07 2003? Also let us know any precautions that we may have to take in regard. Kindly give your considered opinion in writing.

(v)