SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh has dismissed a writ petition filed by employees of Jammu and Kashmir Bank seeking promotion as Banking Associates, holding that their dispute falls within the jurisdiction of an Industrial Tribunal under the Industrial Disputes Act.
Justice Sanjay Dhar, in a judgment pronounced on August 7, 2026, held that the petitioners had an alternative and efficacious remedy through the industrial adjudication mechanism and had not established any exceptional circumstances warranting intervention by the High Court.
The petitioners, who were appointed as Banking Attendants at different times between 2000 and 2012, had sought promotion as Banking Associates on the basis of merit and suitability, contending that two other employees had been promoted to the posts despite being similarly placed.
According to the judgment, the bank had issued a Career Progression Policy in 2004 under which graduate Banking Attendants with four years of service were eligible for promotion as Assistant Banking Associates, followed by eligibility for promotion as Banking Associates after two years in that post.
The petitioners participated in the promotion process initiated in 2016 and were appointed as Assistant Banking Associates in April 2017. After completing two years in the post, they participated in the subsequent Career Progression process in 2019 and claimed that they were recommended for regular absorption as Banking Associates.
However, the bank did not promote them while respondents Nos. 5 and 6 were absorbed as Banking Associates. The petitioners alleged discrimination and argued that their claims were equal or superior on merit and suitability.
The bank opposed the petition, contending that the employees were “workmen” under Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and that their promotion-related grievance constituted an industrial dispute that should be adjudicated by an Industrial Tribunal.
Justice Dhar accepted the bank’s preliminary objection, observing that Jammu and Kashmir Bank is an industry under the Act and that the petitioners, working as Assistant Banking Associates without managerial or supervisory responsibilities, qualified as workmen.
The court further held that the dispute concerned the petitioners’ service conditions and their placement in the higher grade of Banking Associates. Such a dispute, it said, falls within the scope of an industrial dispute and is amenable to the jurisdiction of an Industrial Tribunal under Section 7A read with the Third Schedule of the Act.
The court rejected the argument that the absence of a Central Government Industrial Tribunal in Jammu and Kashmir made the alternative remedy ineffective. It noted that Industrial Tribunals headed by officers of District Judge rank are functioning at Jammu and Srinagar and that the Central Government can refer an industrial dispute to a tribunal constituted by the UT government.
Justice Dhar also referred to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Premier Automobiles Ltd. v. Kamlakar Shantaram Wadke, observing that writ petitions concerning industrial disputes should ordinarily not be entertained where a statutory remedy is available, unless exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.
The court consequently dismissed the writ petition and connected applications without examining the merits of the employees’ claims, while allowing the petitioners to pursue the appropriate remedy before the Industrial Tribunal.
The judgment was pronounced on August 7, 2026, and marked reportable and speaking by the High Court.
