RAKESH RANJAN KESHRI Vs. PRESIDING OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard learned Counsel for the Petitioner and learned Counsel for the State. No one appears for Respondent No. 2 although notice was duly served upon it.

(2.) The Petitioner seeks quashing of the orders dated 2.9.2002 and 25.9.2000 passed by the Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bhagalpur in Reference Case No. 3/2000 and for a direction to the Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bhagalpur not to permit any professional lawyer to appear and conduct the case of Respondent No. 2 in terms of Sections 36(3) and (4) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

(3.) Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts of this case are that an industrial dispute being Reference Case No. 3/2000 was pending before the Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bhagalpur. The Respondent No. 2, Management executed a special power of attorney in favour of Shri S.M. Firoz Hasnain which was objected to by the Petitioner on the ground that he was a legal practitioner functioning as an Advocate regularly in the Labour Courts of Bhagalpur and thus he could not be permitted to represent the Management without the consent of the workmen as required by Section 36(4) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Respondent No. 2, however, contested the matter claiming that the said S.M. Firoz Hasnain is Assistant Secretary of Traders and Manufacturers Association, Patna and thus being an Officer of an Association of Employers of which the Respondent No. 2 is a member, they were entitled to authorize him to represent them in the said reference case.