Trade Unions Act, 1926 – Kopargaon Taluka Sakhar Kamgar Sabha was registered as Representative Union under the Act and was governed by its Constitution and the provisions of the Act – Members of the Sabha come from seven Units – Matters concerning election to the General Council and the Managing Committee of the Sabha were pending in the High Court – High Court directed that the election be held as per the Constitution of the Sabha – Election Officer declared the election programme stipulating Unit wise reservation to the posts of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries wherein all seven units would elect Vice-Presidents and Secretaries independently and the Electoral College in that behalf would be each of those units and not the General Body of members and further,
8 seats would be reserved for “women” while rest 43 seats of Executive Members would be reserved for “men” – Industrial Court quashed the Election Programme – Appellants, members of the Sabha challenged the decision – Dismissed – Plea of appellants that the stipulations made by the Election Officer carving out Electoral Colleges and concept of reservation were though not consistent with the Constitution of the Sabha however, there was no prohibition to adopt such ideas, which were completely laudable and reasonable – Held: However laudable may be the objectives, the Election Officer could not have gone beyond the confines of the Constitution of the Sabha and could not have imported ideas which were not rooted in the Constitution of the Sabha – As a matter of practice, various panels contesting elections to the Sabha were ensuring that there be equitable distribution and every unit was adequately represented, but that idea cannot be implemented through Election Programme – Programme must be completely in accord with the governing Statute and the Constitution of the Sabha – In the absence of the idea of unit wise representation and reservation emanating either from the governing Statute or the Constitution of the Sabha, the Election Programme cannot by itself, invent and implement such idea – Industrial Court as well as the High Court were completely justified in taking the view as aforesaid.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court
HELD 1.1 The stipulations made by the Election Officer carving out Electoral Colleges and concept of reservation were not consistent with the Constitution of the Sabha. However laudable may be the objectives, the Election Officer could not have gone beyond the confines of the Constitution of the Sabha and could not have imported ideas which were not rooted in the Constitution of the Sabha. It may be that as a matter of practice, various panels which contested elections to the Sabha, were ensuring that there be equitable distribution and every unit was adequately represented. But that idea cannot be implemented through Election Programme. The Programme must be completely in accord with the governing Statute and the Constitution of the Sabha. In the absence of the idea of unit wise representation and reservation emanating either from the governing Statute or the Constitution of the Sabha, the Election Programme cannot by itself, invent and implement such idea. The Industrial Court as well as the High Court were completely justified in taking the view as aforesaid. [Paras 12, 14 and 15] [930-B-C; 931-E-G]
Laxmidas Dayabhai Kabarwala v. Nanabhai Chunilal Kabarwala [1964] 2 SCR 567; National Textile
Workers’ Union and Others v. P.R. Ramakrishnan and Others (1983) 1 SCC 228 : [1983] 1 SCR 922
– distinguished.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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