Full Judgment Text
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CASE NO.:
Appeal (civil) 3409 1995
PETITIONER:
BOROSIL GLASS WORKS LTD. EMPLOYEES UNION
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
D.D. BAMBODE AND ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 30/11/2000
BENCH:
S.R.Babu, S.N.Variava
JUDGMENT:
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J U D G M E N T S. N. VARIAVA, J.
This Appeal is against a Judgment dated 29th
September, 1994. Briefly stated the facts are as follows:
The Appellant is a trade union registered under the Trade
Unions Act, 1926 and a recognised union of Borosil Glass
Works Ltd. The 4th Respondent and certain other persons
made a joint application for membership of the Appellant
Union. As the application was not according to the
procedure of the Appellant Union no action was taken on the
said application. All those persons were asked to apply
individually by filling in the prescribed form and make
payment of requisite fee and membership subscription. The
Appellant received a notice dated 15th April, 1993 from the
Registrar of Trade Unions under Section 10(b) of the Trade
Unions Act threatening to cancel the registration of the
Appellant Union. The Appellant Union then learnt that this
was pursuant to a complaint filed by 4th Respondent under
Section 28(1A) of the Trade Unions Act. The Appellant then
represented their case before the Registrar. The Registrar
of Trade Unions thereafter informed the 4th Respondent that
since he was not a member of the Appellant Union for six
months prior to the date of the application no certificate
under Section 28(1A) of the Trade Unions Act could be
granted to him. The 4th Respondent filed a Writ Petition in
the Bombay High Court seeking direction to the Registrar of
the Trade Unions to issue a consent certificate. That
Petition came to be disposed off by the impugned Judgement
dated 29th September, 1994. The High Court has given a wide
interpretation to Section 28(1A) of the Trade Unions Act.
It has been held that even a person who has applied to
become a member can apply under Section 28(1A) of the Trade
Unions Act. This interpretation of Section 28(1A) has been
assailed before us in this Appeal. For a consideration of
this question it will be appropriate to set out Section
28(1A) of the Trade Unions Act. It reads as follows:
"28(1A). Power of Industrial Court to decide certain
disputes.- (1) Where there is a dispute as respects whether
or not any person is an office-bearer or member of a
registered trade union (including any dispute relating to
wrongful expulsion of any such office-bearer or member) or
where there is any dispute relating to the property
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(including the account books) of any registered trade union,
any member of such registered trade union for a period of
not less than six months may, with the consent of the
Registrar, and in such manner as may be prescribed, refer
the dispute to the Industrial Court constituted under the
Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1956 for decision. (2) The
Industrial Court shall after hearing the parties to the
dispute decide the dispute; and may require an
office-bearer or member of the registered trade union, to be
appointed whether by election or otherwise under the
supervision of such person as the Industrial Court may
appoint in this behalf or removed, in accordance with the
rules of the trade union: Provided that, the Industrial
Court may pending the decision of the dispute, make an
interim order specifying or appointing any person or
appointing a Committee of Administration for any purpose
under the Act including the purpose of taking possession or
control of the property in dispute and managing it for the
purposes of the uni on pending the decision. (3) The
decision of the Industrial Court shall be final and binding
on the parties, and shall not be called in question in any
civil court. (4) No civil court shall entertain any suit or
other proceedings in relation to the dispute referred to the
Industrial Court as aforesaid and if any suit or proceeding
is pending in any such Court, the Civil Court shall, on
receipt of an intimation from the Industrial Court that it
is seized of the question, cease to exercise jurisdiction in
respect thereof. (5) Save as aforesaid, the Industrial
Tribunal may, in deciding disputes under this section,
exercise the same powers and follows the same procedure as
it exercises or follows for the purpose of deciding
industrial disputes under the Bombay Industrial Relations
Act, 1946."
The Statement of Objects and Reasons for incorporating
Section 28(1A) is also relevant. It reads as follows:@@
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"STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS.
The Indian Trade Unions Act, 1926, provides for the
registration of Trade Unions, and in certain respects
defines the law relating to registered Trade Unions. The
Act, however, does not contain any provision for deciding
internal disputes in a registered Trade Union. These
disputes, which are at present decided by civil courts take
a long time to decide with the result, that pending the
decision of the dispute, the work of the registered Trade
Union, which cannot function, is paralysed. To tide over
this difficulty, it is proposed to take power to members of
Trade Unions with the consent of the Registrar of Trade
Unions to refer such disputes to the Industrial Court
constituted under the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946,
and to bar the jurisdiction of civil courts from
entertaining such disputes. It is also proposed to empower
the Industrial Court to pass interim orders, and its
decisions are to be made final and binding on parties."
In our view, on a plain reading of Section 28(1A), the
interpretation given by the High Court cannot be sustained.
Section 28(1A) has been incorporated to ensure that internal
disputes in a trade union get decided. The Section
specifically provides that it can be only invoked by a
person who has been a member of such registered trade union
for a period of not less than 6 months. The words "where
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there is a dispute as respects whether or not any person is
an office-bearer or member of a registered trade union" has
to be read along with the words "any member of such
registered union for a period not less than six months". A
person whose application for membership has not been
considered or allowed would not have been a member for six
months. It is a cardinal rule of interpretation that if two
interpretations are possible, one of which leads to a
harmonious reading of the entire provision and another which
renders a portion nugatory then the former interpretation
has to be accepted. The interpretation given by the High
Court leads to the requirement of a person being a member
for six months being rendered nugatory. However if it is
held that the dispute "as to whether a person is a member or
not" is necessarily a dispute in respect of a person who was
already a member for a period of not less than six months,
but whose membership is being disputed then no portion of
the Section gets rendered nugatory. Thus it will have to be
held that dispute between persons who are not members and
the Union would not be covered by Section 28(1A). Further a
dispute between a person who is not yet a member and a union
would not be an internal dispute of the union. Under
Section 28(1A) the jurisdiction of the Civil Court is barred
only in respect of matters which have been referred to an
Industrial Court under Section 28(1A). If a dispute does
not fall under Section 28(1A) then that dispute can always
be taken to a Civil Court. As a dispute whether a person
should or should not be admitted as a member is not a
dispute falling within Section 28(1A), it would always be
open to such persons to approach a Civil Court for
resolution of their dispute. Needless to say that if the
law permits they may also raise an industrial dispute before
the Industrial Court in that behalf. In our view,
therefore, the Judgment of the High Court cannot be
sustained and is set aside. Accordingly the Appeal is
allowed. There will be no order as to costs.