Case: KARBHARI AND OTHERS Vs. DEEPAK V. CHENGEDE AND OTHERS

3. Kopargaon Taluka Sakhar Kamgar Sabha (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Sabha? for short) was registered on 30.06.1951 as a Representative Union under the provisions of the Act . The affairs of the Sabha are governed by its Constitution and by the provisions of the Act. Clauses 10 and 11 of the Constitution deal with the Managing Committee of the Sabha while clause 15 deals with the General Council of the Sabha. Said clauses are to the following10. The Managing Committee of the Sabha shall consist of not more than 70 members, including one President, not more than Seven VicePresidents, one General Secretary and not more than Seven Secretaries, one Treasurer and Two Legal Advisers, elected at the Annual General Meeting.11. The Management of the Sabha shall be vested in the Managing Committee of the Sabha elected by the General15. (a) The General Council of the Sabha shall consist of delegates elected in a meeting of members of each factory called for the purpose, on the basis of one delegate for every 30 members ordinary or honorary of the Sabha from each factory (or a part thereof above 20) provided that minimum representation shall beThe election of the delegates of the General Council of Sabha shall be held in March or April after every five years, provided that in case of a vacancy occurring during the years it shall be filled by a byelection from the constituency represented by vacatingThe delegates of the General Council elected by the members shall continue to be delegates until replaced by the members.Thus, the members of the Sabha would first elect the delegates to the General Council of the Sabha. In terms of Clause 15(a) the ratio prescribed is one delegate for every 30 members and the elections are to be held every five years. Further, in terms of Clauses 10 and 11, the General Council, in turn, would elect the Managing Committee of the Sabha consisting of not more than 70 members.It is a matter of record that the members of the Sabha come from seven Units, namely, Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, Kale Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (Kolapewadi), Changdeonagar, Sakarwadi, Laxmiwadi, Ganeshnagar and Godavari Bio Refinaries and the strength of workers of each of these seven units is 1428, 1171, 627, 185, 247, 232 and 277 respectively. Though the Constitution of the Sabha does not strictly prescribe any Unit wise representation, it appears that by way of consistent practice out of 142 delegates to be elected to the General Council the unit wise composition of the delegates has been 48, 39, 21, 6, 9, 8 and 11 respectively insofar as all the aforesaid seven units are concerned. It also appears to be a matter of practice that seven Vice Presidents and seven Secretaries would be elected from and amongst the members of each of those seven units thereby giving equitable representation to individual units.The matters concerning election to the General Council and the Managing Committee of the Sabha were pending in the High Court and by its order dated 23.04.2018 the High Court directed that the election be held as per the Constitution of the Sabha. The process was, therefore, undertaken and the Election Officer declared the election programme on 07.05.2018. Insofar as the elections to the posts of seven Vice Presidents and seven Secretaries are concerned, true translation of the election programme was as under:-President Seat-7 1 for each branchQualification for candidate: worker from concerned branch or honorary member of theRequirement of application of the1 member elected from concerned branch on general council as proposer and Any 1 member elected from concerned branch on general council asVoters: members of general council from concerned branch.Seat – 7 1 for each branchQualification for candidate: Worker member from concerned branch or honorary member of thet of application of thecandidate: Any 1member elected from concerned branch on general council as proposer and Any 1 member elected from concerned branch on general council asVoters: members of general council from concerned branch.The Election Officer also declared that eight seats would be reserved for ?women? while rest 43 seats of Executive Members would be reserved for ?men?. The stipulation in that behalf was asWomen constituency: Seats-Qualification for candidate: any women member or honorary womant of application of thecandidate: Any 1woman member of general council as proposer and Any 1 woman member of general council asVoters: members of general council from concerned branch.Male Executive members: Seats - 43 Distribution of 43Gaumtanaar branchChangdevnagar branchLaxmiwadi branchGodavari bio refineries 3for candidate: Any member from concerned branch and general council member of concerned branch. Requirement for application of the candidate: 1 member elected from concerned branch on general council as proposer and 1 member asmembers of general council from concerned branch (only for same branch).?The challenge to the Election Programme was raised immediately before the Industrial Court at Ahmednagar by certain members of the Sabha submitting, inter alia, that the Election Programme and the stipulation therein were contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of the Sabha and as such the Programme deserved to be quashed. The Industrial Court, Ahmednagar by its order dated 05.06.2018 accepted the challenge and while quashing the Election Programme, it directed asElection Officer shall conduct the election as per constitution without insisting for undertaking-wise election for the post of Vice-President and Secretary. There shall be no reservation for women.?The appellants who are also members of the Sabha, challenged the decision of the Industrial Court, Ahmednagar by filing Writ Petition No.5599 of 2018 in the High Court which by its judgment and order presently under appeal found that no interference was called for and dismissed the writ petition.

Court's reasoning:
14. The facts and the circumstances in which the above-mentioned observations were made by this Court were completely distinct and different. The first case concerned the power of the Court to grant adequate relief while in the second case the issue was if in the ultimate analysis the company was to be wound up, the workers would be adversely affected and as such whether they should be given a right of hearing in winding up proceedings or not. Those cases were of completely different dimension, whereas we are presently concerned with the issue whether an election to a union of workers has to be in accordance with its constitution or otherwise. 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 suchThe Industrial Court as well as the High Court were completely justified in taking the view as aforesaid. We, therefore, find no merit in the submissions advanced by the learned Senior Counsel for the appellants.