THIRU E KUMAR Vs. SECRETARY TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner herein got registered with the Tamil Nadu Workers Welfare Board constituted under the Tamil Nadu Workers (Regulation of Employment and conditions of Work) Act, 1982 for availing the benefits of the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Construction Workers) Welfare Scheme, 1994. His registration as a beneficiary under the scheme has been cancelled by the impugned order of the respondent dated 14.9.2006 on the premise that he secured his registration not through any one of the persons or institutions referred to in Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Construction Workers) Welfare Scheme, 1994. The said order is impugned in the present writ petition seeking issuance of a writ of certiorarified mandamus to quash the said order and direct the respondent to restore his membership. The arguments advanced by Ms. P. Vedavallee, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. A. Thirumaran, learned counsel for the respondent are heard.

(2.) It is a fact that the petitioner got his name registered as a beneficiary under the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Construction Workers) Welfare Scheme, 1994 with Registration No. 01-232 dated 27.4.1995. Admittedly, the said registration was secured through "Thozilalar Veettuvasathi Matrum Thozhilnutpa Valarchi Mayyam", which was an unregistered Union at the time of his application for registration as a member of the said scheme. Since the said union did not come under any one of the categories mentioned in Section 5 of the Scheme, the registration of the petitioner with the Board under the said scheme was sought to be cancelled by issuing a show-cause notice dated 26.6.2006 informing him that he had got admitted as a member of the scheme through , which was not a registered trade union and which did not come under any one of the categories mentioned in Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Construction Workers) Welfare Scheme, 1994. For the show-cause notice, the petitioner has given a reply on 14.8.2006 contending that though the Union through which he got admitted as a member of the Scheme under the Board was not a registered union at the time of his registration, later on he became a member of "Mahakavi Bharathiyar Kattida Thozhilalar Sangam", a registered trade union and hence, his registration should not be cancelled. After considering the said representation, the respondent has passed an order canceling the registration made in 1994 on the ground that at the time of registration, he was sponsored neither by a registered trade union nor by any one of the recognized bodies or members found mentioned in Section 5 of the Scheme.

(3.) When it is an admitted case of the petitioner himself that the Union through which he got admitted as a member of the scheme was not a registered union at the time of his application, there is no need to give further opportunity to prove that the Union which sponsored the petitioner as a member of the scheme was a registered union. What the petitioner had sought for in his reply to the show-cause notice was that though the registration was through a body which could not have been recognized as one of the institutions, bodies or members mentioned in Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Construction Workers) Welfare Scheme, 1994, the registration should be ratified because of his becoming a member of another trade union, which came to be registered several years after his registration as a member of the scheme.