THE WORKMEN OF THE JAWAHAR MILLS, SALEM REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY, THE SALEM DISTRICT MILLS WORKERS UNION, JAWAHAR MILLS Vs. THE MANAGEMENT OF THE JAWAHAR MILLS LTD. AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners are the workmen of the Jawahar Mills, Salem. 'One Babu Chettiar, who was working as a spinning master, had his services terminated by the management from 1st January, 1966. At the instance of the petitioners the dispute regarding the termination of his services was referred to the Labour Court, Coimbatore for adjudication, and the Labour Court has held that there is no industrial dispute in this case, as the Union is not entitled to agitate the question regarding the termination of services of Babu Chettiar. I think the decision of the Labour Court is correct. One need hardly take the trouble of examining the provision explaining the scope of the Industrial Disputes Act. It would be enough to refer to the relevant portions of the Supreme Court's judgment in Assam Chah Karmachari Sangha v. Dimakuchi Tea Estate : (1958) ILLJ 500 SC , because in the present case Babu Chettiar was admittedly not a workman as defined in Section 2 (s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, though he was a member of the petitioners' Union as in the case before the Supreme Court. The relevant portions in the Supreme Court's judgment are:

(2.) THE last portion of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the earlier extract is clinching as far as this question is concerned. On behalf of the petitioners it was sought to be argued that what is important is the community of interest between the workmen on the one hand and the employment or non -employment of any person (though not a workman) in which they are interested on the other and that the workers are interested in having a good spinning master, and that is the community of interest between the spinning master and the workers in the mills. Reference is made to be minority judgment in the Supreme Court case, where Sarker, J. observed at page 524: