TMI Blog1958 (8) TMI 53X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and their 31 workmen, mentioned in annexure I A', in exercise of the powers conferred on the said government by s. 7 read with s. 10(1) of the Act. The dispute was whether the dismissal of the workmen in question was justified; if not, whether they were entitled to reinstatement or any other relief For the adjudication of this dispute, an industrial tribunal with Mr. Ali Hassan as the sole member was constituted. This was reference No. 10 of 1954. Then, on January 15,1955, by Notification No. III/DI-1601/55 L. 696, a similar industrial dispute between the same Bata Company and its 29 other workmen was referred by the government of Bihar to the same tribunal. This was reference No. I of 1955. While the proceedings in respect of the two references, which had been consolidated by the tribunal, were pending before it and had made some progress, the government of Bihar issued a third Notification No. III/Di-1601/55-L-13028 on September 17, 1955, by which it purported to supersede the two earlier notifications, to combine the said two disputes into one dispute, to implead the two sets of workmen involved in the two said disputes together, to, add the Bata Mazdoor 'Union to the d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ollective agreement with the said union and by mutual consent the Standing Orders and Rules, certified under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act of 1946, were settled. The union was recognised as the sole and exclusive collective bargaining agency for the workmen of the company. Towards the end of 1954, two groups of the union were formed and rivalry grew between them. One group was led by Mr. Fateh Narain Singh and other by Mr. Bari. On January 22, 1954, the union' through its general secretary Mr. Fateh Narain Singh served on the company a slow down notice with effect from February 24, 1954, and on February 6, 1954, Mr. Bari purporting to act as the president of the union asked his followers to go on strike as from February 23, 1954. The demands made by Mr. Fateh Narain Singh gave rise to conciliation proceedings under the Act and ended in the settlement which was duly recorded on February 8, 1954. In spite of the said settlement some workmen, including the sixty workmen in question who supported Mr. Bari, went on an illegal strike on February 23, 1954, although as members of the union they were bound by the settlement. The majority of the workmen were opposed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... kmen in question and consequently it had interest in the proceedings before the tribunal. Two applications were made before the tribunal by other workmen to be joined to the proceedings on the ground that they were opposed to the reinstatement of the workmen whose cases were pending before the tribunal. All these applications were rejected by the tribunal. It would appear that Mr. Fateh Narain Singh then moved the Department of Labour Government of Bihar, and it was apparently pursuant to the representation -made by him that the third notification was issued by the appellant superseding the first two notifications and referring the whole dispute afresh to the industrial tribunal with the union of Mr. Fateh Narain Singh added as a party to the proceedings. That in brief is the genesis of the impugned notification in the present case. Dr Bannerjee for the appellant has urged before us that in dealing with the question about the powers of the appropriate government under s. 10(1) of the Act, it would be necessary to bear in mind the facts which led to the cancellation of the first two notifications and the issue of the third impugned notification. He contends that in issuing the third ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... deciding whether by the application of the rule of construction enunciated by s. 21, the appellant's contention is justified that the power to cancel the reference made under s. 10(1) can be said to vest in the appropriate government by necessary implication. If we come to the conclusion that the context and -effect of the relevant provisions is repugnant to the application of the said rule of construction, the appellant would not be entitled to invoke the assistance of the said section. We must, therefore, proceed to examine the relevant provisions of the Act itself. It is clear that the policy of the Act is to secure and preserve good relations between the employers and their workmen and to maintain industrial peace and harmony. It is with this object that s. 3 of the Act contemplates the establishment of the Works Committees whose duty it is to promote measures for securing and preserving amity and good relations between the employers and the workmen. If the Works Committee is unable to settle the disputes rising between the employer and his workmen, conciliation officers and the boards of conciliation offer assistance to the parties to settle their disputes. Sections 3, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns mentioned in the said provision. It would therefore be reasonable to hold that except for cases falling under s. 10(5) the appropriate government stands outside the reference proceedings, which are under the control and jurisdiction of the tribunal itself. Even after the award is made it is -obligatory on I the appropriate government under S. 17(1) to publish the said award within a period of thirty, -days from the date of its receipt by the, appropriate government. 'Sub-section (2) of s. 17 says that subject to the provisions of s. 17A, the award published under (1) of s. 17 shall be final and shall not be called in question by any court in any manner whatsoever Section 19(3) provides that an award shall, subject to the other pro- visions of s. 19, remain in operation for a period of one year from the date on which it becomes emforceable under s. 17A. It is true that as. 17A and 19 confer on the appropriate government powers to modify the provisions of the award or limit the period of its: operation but it is unnecessary to refer to these provisions in detail. The scheme of the- provisions. in Chapters III and IV of the Act would thus appear to be leave the reference procee ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ee fairly conceded that it would be difficult to sustain a claim for an implied power of cancellation in respect of a reference made under s. 10(2). There is another consideration which is relevant in dealing with this question. Section 12 which deals with the duties of the conciliation officer, provides in substance that the conciliation officer should try his best to bring about settlement between the parties. If no settlement is arrived at, the conciliation officer has to make a report to the appropriate government, as provided in sub-s. (4) of s. 12. This report must contain a full statement of the relevant facts and circumstances and the reasons on account of which in the opinion of the officer the settlement could not be arrived at. Sub-section (5) then lays down that if, on a consideration of the report, the appropriate government is satisfied that there is a case for reference to a board, labour court, tribunal or national tribunal, it may make such a reference. Where the appropriate government does not make such a reference it shall record and communicate to the parties concerned its reasons therefor. This provision imposes on the appropriate government an obligation to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fore the conciliation officers or(boards are specifically dealt with by ss. 12(2) and 13(3) and the same are made binding under s. 18. There can, therefore, be no doubt that if an industrial dispute before a tribunal is amicably settled, the tribunal would immediately agree to make an award in terms of the settlement between the parties. It was stated before us at the bar that innumerable awards had been made by industrial tribunals in terms of the settlements between the parties. In this connexion we may incidentally refer to the provisions of s. 7 (2)(b) of the Industrial Disputes (Appellate Tribunal) Act, 1950 (XLVIII of 1950), which expressly refer to an award or decision of an industrial tribunal made with the consent of the parties. It is true that this Act is no longer in force; but when it was in force, in providing for appeals to the Appellate Tribunal set up under the said Act, the legislature had recognised the making of awards by the industrial tribunals with the consent of the parties. Therefore, we cannot accept the argument that cancellation of reference would be necessary in order to give effect to the amicable settlement of the dispute reached by the parties pendin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assed under s. 10(1), the proceedings before the industrial tribunal would be rendered wholly ineffective by the exercise of such power. Apart from these provisions of the Act, on general principles it seems rather difficult to accept the argument that the appropriate government should have an implied power to cancel its own order made under s. 10(1). If on the representation made by the employer or his workmen the appropriate government considers the matter fully and reaches the conclusion that an industrial dispute exists or is apprehended and then makes the reference under s. 10(1), there appears to be no reason or principle to support the contention that it has an implied power to cancel its order and put an end to the reference proceedings initiated by itself In dealing with this question it is important to bear in mind that power to cancel its order made under s. 10(1), which the appellant claims, is an absolute power; it is not as if the power to cancel implies the obligation to make another reference in respect of the dispute in question ; it is not as if the exercise of the power is subject to the condition that reasons for cancellation of the order should be set out. If t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to it. The tribunal was appointed for one year. During its tenure the tribunal disposed of some of the disputes referred to it, but four disputes still remained undisposed of. For disposing of these references, a second tribunal was appointed on June 27, 1952. The validity of the constitution of the second tribunal was impugned by the appellant and it was urged that it is the first tribunal alone which can and must try the remaining disputes. This argument was rejected by this court, and it was held that it was perfectly competent to the appropriate government to appoint a tribunal for a limited duration. It would be noticed that in this case there was no question of cancelling an order made under s. 10(1). The said order remained in force, and the only step which the government took was to make an order constituting a fresh tribunal to dispose of the references which had not been adjudicated upon by the first tribunal. It was on these facts that this court took the view that it was competent to the government to refer the said remaining disputes for adjudication to the second tribunal. Strictly speaking there was no occasion to withdraw any dispute from the first tribunal; the fir ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he addition of new issues referred to the Commissioner by subsequent notification made it difficult for him to submit his award within the specified time, the local government should have cancelled the original reference, made a fresh comprehensive reference and given him requisite time for making his award. Since that was not done, the position could not be rectified by the issue of the impugned notification retrospectively extending the time originally fixed. It is in connexion with this argument that the statement on which reliance is placed was apparently made by the learned counsel for the appellant. If that be the true position, no argument can be based on these observations. It is conceded that the question about the power of the appropriate government to cancel an order of reference made under s. 10(1) did not arise for discussion or decision in this case. The third decision to which reference has been made in support of the appellant's case is the decision of Bishan Narain J. in The Textile Workers' Union, Amritsar v. The State of Punjab and others A.I.R. 1957 Pun. 255. Bishan Narain J. appears to have taken the view that the power to cancel an order of reference m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... court in that case and are not obiter observations made by the learned judge. The last case to which reference must be made is the decision of Rajamannar C. J. and Venkatarama Aiyar J. in South India Estate Labour Relations Organisation v. The State of Madras A.I.R. 1955 Mad. 45. In this case the Madras Government had purported to amend the reference made by it under s. 10 of the Act and the validity of this amendment was challenged before the court. This objection was repelled oil the ground that it would be open to the government to make an independent reference concerning any matter not covered by the previous reference. That it, took the form of an amendment to the existing reference and not an additional reference is a mere technicality which does not merit any interference in the writ proceedings. The objection was one of form and was without substance. It would thus appear that the question before the court was whether the appropriate government can amend the reference originally made under s. 10 so far as the new matters not covered by the original reference are concerned, and the court held that what the appropriate government could have achieved by making an independe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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