Tribunal's Peremptory Closure of Evidence Without Completing Cross-Examination Vitiates Award for Violation of Natural Justice

The petitioner company challenged an Award dated 20.02.2025 passed by the 3rd Industrial Tribunal, Kolkata, in Case No. 03/2021.

The dispute arose from the dismissal of a workman (Respondent No. 2) without a prior domestic inquiry.

During the Tribunal proceedings, the petitioner examined its Personnel Manager as OPW-1.

However, before the cross-examination could be completed or additional documents (attendance registers) submitted, the Tribunal peremptorily closed the evidence for both parties on 20.11.2024 and rejected subsequent adjournment prayers.

The Tribunal subsequently issued an Award in favor of the workman, citing insufficient evidence by the employer to prove misconduct.

1. Whether the Tribunal’s unilateral closure of evidence before the completion of cross-examination violated the principles of natural justice, specifically audi alteram partem.

2. Whether an employer is entitled to lead fresh evidence before a Tribunal to justify a dismissal when no domestic inquiry was conducted prior to the termination.

Workmen of Firestone Tyre Rubber Co. of India (P) Ltd. v. Management, (1973) 1 SCC 813.

State of Uttarakhand v. Sureshwati, (2021) 3 SCC 108.

If no domestic inquiry is held, the employer has a legal right to adduce evidence before the Tribunal for the first time to justify the dismissal.

The Tribunal is bound to consider such evidence on its merits and cannot refuse the employer an opportunity to justify its action if such a request is made at the appropriate stage.

The court emphasized the cardinal principle of audi alteram partem, ensuring a party's right to lead complete evidence.

The Court observed that the Tribunal's record itself admitted that the cross-examination of the petitioner’s witness (OPW-1) remained incomplete.

Despite the legal framework permitting an employer to justify dismissal through evidence before the Tribunal in the absence of a domestic inquiry, the Tribunal rejected the petitioner's bona fide requests for time to produce the witness and documents.

The Court found that by "peremptorily" closing the evidence and deciding the matter on a "truncated and incomplete record," the Tribunal acted in gross violation of natural justice.

It noted that the Tribunal's finding that the employer's evidence was "weak" was fundamentally flawed because the employer was never allowed to complete its testimony or submit documents previously called for by the Tribunal itself.

Such procedural lapses were characterized as a clear abuse of the process of law.

The Court set aside the impugned Award dated 20.02.2025.

It restored Case No. 03/2021 to the file of the 3rd Industrial Tribunal, Kolkata, with directions to permit the petitioner to adduce fresh or further evidence. The Tribunal was ordered to dispose of the case expeditiously, preferably within three months, and pass a fresh award without being influenced by its previous vacated findings.