SUMAN VARMA Vs. NAVA BHARAT KARMACHARI SANGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in this case, who is the Manager of 'nava Bharat', a Hindi daily newspaper published from Indore, seeks a writ of certiorari for quashing an award made by the Labour Court, Jabalpur, In a dispute referred to it for adjudication by the State Government under Section 10 (1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ).

(2.) THE order by which the dispute adjudicated upon by the Labour Court was referred to that Court was made by the State Government on 21st October 1968 and ran thus-"whereas the State Government is of opinion that an Industrial Dispute exists between the Manager, Nav Bharat, Indore, and the Nava Bharat karmachari Sangh, Indore, regarding the termination of services of two workmen as specified in the schedule hereto annexed; and whereas the State Government consider it desirable to refer the said dispute for adjudication; now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (1)of Section 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947) the State government hereby refers the said dispute for adjudication to the labour Court, Indore, constituted under Section 7 of the said Act. SCHEDULE (1) Whether the termination of services by the management of Nav bharat, Indore. of Shri Kantikumar Shukla and Shri Satyanarayan Pande, sub-editor and compositor, from 16th and 17th August, 1968, respectively was bona fide and legal? (2) If not, to what relief are they entitled?" by the impugned award, the Labour Court set aside the order of the Management of 'nava Bharat' terminating Shri Shukla's services, and directed the Management to reinstate Shri Shukla in his former post and pay him all the wages due to him from 16th August 1963, the date on which his services were terminated, upto the date of his reinstatement. The Labour Court held that the order of the management terminating Shri Pande's services was bona fide and legal and that he was not entitled to any relief. The present petition is concerned only with the matter of termination of Shri Shukla's services

(3.) THE material facts found by the Labour Court are that Shri Shukla was first employed in February 1961 on the editorial staff of 'nav Bharat' as a sub-editor. He left that employment after a year or so, and then again he was employed by the Management to the same capacity on 20th August 1962, Sometime in July or august, 1963, some of the employees of 'nava Bharat' decided to form a Union. A notice embodying this idea was circulated to the employees asking them to collect on 6th August 1962 for preliminary discussions. The preliminary discussions were followed by a meeting held on 15th August 1963 for the establishment of a Sangh, for the election of office-bearers and for taking steps for the registration of the union. The Union was registered on 31st August 1963 as 'nava Bharat Karmachari sangh,' and that Sangh is the first respondent in this petition. The Labour Court has found that Shri Shukla was the moving spirit behind the formation of the union and was mainly instrumental is bringing into existence the Union, and that the petitioner, Shri Suman Verma, who is the Manager of 'nava Bharat,' did not at all like the formation of the Union. On 14th August 1963 the Management addressed a letter to Shri Shukla intimating to him that the Management no longer needed his services and that his services would stand terminated from 16th august 1963.