Case: Workmen Of Indian Express (P) Ltd Vs. The Management

1. Two workmen, Gulab Singh and Satya Pal, were appointed by the respondent-company in December 1956 and February, 1955 respectively under the designation of copy-holders. It was alleged that they were entrusted with the duties of proof-readers and there fore they claimed that they should be treated as such. In July, 1959, the management issued an order in which the two workmen were described as copy-holders. It was alleged that in spite of this order the management continued to give the workmen the work of proof-readers. A dispute whether the two workmen should be treated as proof-readers having arisen and having been espoused by the Delhi Union of Journalists, the Delhi Administration, by a notification dated August 2, 1961 referred it to the Industrial Tribunal, Delhi2. The management contended that the said dispute was an individual dispute and not an Industrial dispute and that being so it was wrongly referred to the Tribunal and the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to adjudicate it. The Tribunal raised the preliminary issue, namely, whether the dispute relating to the said two workmen was an industrial dispute. The Tribunal held that it was not an industrial dispute but was only an individual dispute of the two workmen and therefore it had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the said reference. The workmen obtained special leave from this Court and that is how this appeal has come up before us for disposal.

Reasoning: 8. The evidence of the union secretary was that in 1959-60, 31 working journalists of the respondent company were members of the Delhi Union of Journalists. It was nobodys case that these 31 members did not continue to be the members of that union in 1960-61 also. If the number of working journalists in the respondent company were to be taken as 68, membership of the union by as many as 31 working journalists would certainly confer on the union a representative character. Even if the number of working journalists were to be taken as 131, it would not be unreasonable to say that 31 i.e., about 25 per cent of them would, by becoming the members of the union, give a representative character to the union. It is clear from the evidence that at the material time there was no union of working journalists employed by the respondent company.Therefore, in accordance with the decision in (1965) 3 SCR 394   = (AIR 1966 SC 182  ) (supra), the union can be said to have a representative character qua the working journalists employed in the respondent company.There can be no doubt that the union had taken up the cause of the two workmen by its executive committee passing the said resolution and its office bearers having followed up that resolution by taking the matter before the conciliation officer. Though the grievance of the two workmen arose in July 1959 when the management declined to accept them as proof-readers the union has sponsored their cause before the date of reference as laid down in the case of Hindu, Bombay, (1962) 3 SR 893 = (AIR 1963 SC 318  ). That being the position it cannot be gainsaid that the dispute was transformed into an industrial dispute as it was sponsored by a union which possessed a representative character vis-a-vis t