MUMBAI, June 17: Labour litigation is in a state of collapse, literally so. The 900 labour law practitioners in Mumbai and Thane have gone on an indefinite strike after the Labour Court's ceiling collapsed three days ago, holding up thousands of crucial cases involving companies big and small across the board.The Mumbai Industrial and Labour Court is located at Arun Chambers, next to the air-conditioned market building at Tardeo.The 12 industrial courts and nine labour courts together occupy 25,000 square feet of the third, sixth and seventh floors of the building. The third floor ceiling collapsed, sparking off a strike to protest the state government's refusal to repair the courts over the years, or allot a new and bigger premises. The strike has left hundreds of industrial court complaints pending indefinitely, of which some of the bigger cases involve Hoechst Marion Roussel, Siemens and Hindustan Lever."We have only one recourse to justice, and even that has collapsed," said a union leader.TheTardeo premises were taken on lease by a group of advocates who in turn have leased it out to the Industrial and Labour Court in 1976. While the original lessees (advocates) are paying the current market rental rates, the courts continue to pay the 1976 rentals. The original lessee advocates are bridging the gap by dipping into their personal reserves.Labour minister Shabir Sheikh said the Public Works Department has ascertained the extent of the damage to the court premises "and will carry out the necessary repair works."But the president of the Labour Law Practitioners Association (LLPA), S S Pathak, asked, "How can an advocate apply his head to fight out matters in court when he's wondering if he'll be crushed to death by the crumbling ceiling? The ceiling of this particular court room fortunately collapsed during the lunch session, when everyone was out on lunch; else, there would have been casualties." Jambolikar, secretary of the LLPA, said: "This can't be called a strike, but a mere abstinencesimply because we aren't certain about the safety of the building and it's a life and death matter. If the government continues with its callous attitude, the LLPA will be forced to file a petition in the High Court against it."According to members of the LLPA, Arun Society had earlier filed a petition in Mumbai pleading for eviction of the courts from their premises due to the low rents they were paying. L R Mohite, president of the Thane LLPA said, "Though our association are separate identities in paper, the Thane bar advocates also practice in Mumbai and vice versa and our problems are similar. At Thane, the Labour and Industrial courts are about a kilometre-and-half away from one another, which makes functioning difficult." Jambolikar said the government doesn't want to spend money on these courts as there's little revenue generated from them.
