MAHARASHTRA GIRNI KAMGAR UNION Vs. S BHATTACHARJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two petitions filed under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India can be conveniently disposed of by common judgment as the petitions are directed against the Order dated 17th February, 1983 passed by the Industrial Court disposing of the three appeals; two preferred by Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh and one by Maharashtra Girni Kamgar Union. The question which requires determination in these two petitions is whether a person could be considered as member within the definition of S. 3(25) of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 (hereinafter referred to as the "Act") in spite of his subscription remaining in arrears for three months - December 1981 and January and February, 1982. The answer to the question would determine the result of the application made under S. 15(b)(ii) and (iv) of the Act by the Maharashtra Girni Kamgar Union for cancellation of the registration of Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh as the representative Union for Cotton Textile Industry in Greater Bombay. The facts giving rise to the filing of the petitions are required to be stated to appreciate the contentions urged in support of the two petitions.

(2.) The Government of Maharashtra enacted the Bombay Industrial Relation Act, 1946 to regulate the relations of employers and employees, and to make provision for settlement of industrial disputes and to provide for certain other purposes. Section 13 of the Act provides for an application for registration as a representative Union and in accordance with this provision, Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh (hereinafter referred to as the "Sangh") made a requisite application and was registered as the representative Union in August, 1958 for the Cotton Textile Industry in Grater Bombay. The Cotton Textile Industry comprises about 95 Textile Units, of which 60 are big Units, while the remaining are small Units. These Units are spread throughout the Bombay City and the total labour force employed in these Units is about 2,25,000. Maharashtra Girni Kamgar Union (hereinafter referred to as the "Union") preferred an application dated 24th March, 1982 before the Registrar appointed under the Act, challenging the status of the Sangh as the representative Union for Cotton Textile Industry. Section 15 of the Act enables the Registrar to cancel the registration of the Union if the Registrar is satisfied that the membership of the Union has for a continuous period of three calendar months fallen below the minimum required under S. 13 for its registration. Section 13 of the Act prescribes that a Union desirous of registration as representative Union must establish that it has a membership of not less than 25% of the total number of employees employed in the Industry in the local area. The cancellation of registration was also sought on the ground that the Sangh is not being conducted bona fide in the interest of the employees but in the interest of the employers and to the prejudice of the interest of the employees. The Union claimed that the Mill Workers jointed the Union some time in October 1981. It is necessary to mention at this juncture that the Union resorted to strike in six Mills from October 18, 1981 and the total strike in all the Units from 18th January, 1982. It was the claim of the Union that as the membership of the Sangh had fallen below the minimum required under S. 13 of the Act, it is necessary to cancel the registration of the Sangh as the representative Union. The Union claimed that the activities of the Sangh are not conducted in bonafide manner and in support of the claim, reliance was placed on two grounds. It was claimed that about 90 employees of Kohinoor Mills had consumed the edible oil supplied by the Sangh and became permanently disabled but the Sangh did not give any monetary assistance to these employees. The second allegation was that the Sangh failed to protect the interest of the employees when the employers introduced automation of looms which resulted in the retrenchment of the workers.

(3.) The application preferred by the Union was summarily rejected by the Additional Registrar of Unions by holding that from the employment and the membership information available under Rules 21 and 22 of the Bombay Industrial Relations Rules, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the "Rules"), the membership for a period of three continuous calendar months had not fallen below the minimum. The order of the Additional Registrar was challenged by the Union by filing Writ Petition No. 856 of 1982 in this Court. The Additional Registrar thereupon withdrew the order rejecting the application under S. 15 of Act. The Registrar was then directed by this Court to hold a proper enquiry and after giving opportunity to all the parties concerned, decide the application on merits. The High Court also directed the Union to file an amended application before 5th May, 1982. The Union accordingly, filed the amended application on 6th May, 1982 and claimed that the figures shown by the Sangh to establish the membership in the months of October 1981 to December 1981 were false and fabricated. The Additional Registrar issued show cause notice to the Sangh on 21st May, 1982. The Sangh filed written statement raising several contentions, the principal being that the membership of the Sangh had not fallen below the minimum for a continuous period of three months. The Sangh denied that the activities were not conducted bonafide in the interest of the employees and further specifically denied the two instances given by the Union in this connection. The Additional Registrar, after hearing the parties, by order dated 4th November, 1982 rejected the application for derecognition of the Sangh. The Additional Registrar came to the conclusion that the membership of Sangh for the months of December 1981, January, 1982, February, 1982 and May, 1982 had fallen below the minimum required under S. 13 of the Act. The Additional Registrar considered the figure of membership of the Sangh for the month of May, 1982 in view of the second proviso to S. 15(b)(ii) of the Act which prescribes that the registration of the Union shall not be cancelled unless its membership for the calendar month in which the slow cause notice under S. 15 of the Act was issued was less than the minimum. In other words, two conditions are required to be satisfied before cancellation of the registration of the representative Union and those conditions are : 1) that the membership has fallen below the minimum for a continuous period of three months, and 2) that the membership is also less than the minimum in the calendar month in which show cause notice is issued. The Additional Registrar in spite of the finding that the membership had fallen below the minimum at both the relevant times, declined to derecognise the Sangh on the grounds that the required membership during the month of May, 1982 had fallen the minimum because of an illegal strike resorted to by the Union from 18th January, 1982. The Additional Registrar recorded a finding that the claim of the Union that the activities of the Sangh were not conducted bonafide and, therefore, the registration should be revoked under S. 15(b)(iv) of the Act was without any merit. On the strength of this finding the Additional Registrar rejected the application for cancellation of the registration.