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Judgment
Re: CAN 895 of 2020
Sufficient cause being shown for not being able to present the appeal within the period of limitation. The delay of 6 days in presentation of the
Memorandum of Appeal is condoned.
CAN 895 of 2020 is allowed.
Re: MAT 143 of 2020 and CAN 894 of 2020
By consent of the parties, the appeal and the applications are treated as on day’s list and disposed of by this common order.
The dispute is with regard to the check-off system introduced by the employer bank in deciding the membership strength of the Trade Unions.
The appeal is arising out of an order refusing to pass any interim order.
In our order dated 4th March, 2020, being prima facie satisfied that the appellants were able to make out a case, we stayed the certificate dated 7th
January, 2020.
After hearing the learned Counsel for the parties, it appears that, for the time being, the re-verification of the membership of the respective Trade
Unions is required and to facilitate that, we request Justice S.D. Pandit (Retired) to prepare a fresh list of members of the respective Unions after
verifying it with the backend details, which is presently in the safe custody of the General Manager of the Bank of Baroda. The envelope should be
opened in presence of Justice Pandit and the representatives of all the parties. Two representatives from each side shall be present at the time of
verification of the membership of the respective Unions, the bank shall be represented by the General Manager. The representatives of the respective
Unions shall be given access to the backend data details, which is now in the custody of the General Manager in terms of our order dated 4th March,
2020. A fresh certificate shall be issued after re-verification of the membership of the respective Union. The respective Unions may, in the meantime,
deduct the subscription fees of their members and intimate the General Manager so that the General Manager can accordingly assess members’
strength in preparing the final list of members of the respective Unions.
Mr. P.S. Sengupta, learned Senior Counsel representing the Bank of Baroda has submitted that the Bank of Baroda does not make any backend
details of the officers under Grade IV, V and VI as they were never alleged to be a part of any Trade Union and used to represent the Management
in the settlement process.
Be that as it may, in preparing the membership list, the officers of Grade IV, V and VI shall also to be taken into consideration as the Bank of Baroda
is having the details of two Banks, now amalgamated with the Bank of Baroda in terms of the order of the Central Government, and such details shall
be produced before Justice Pandit for preparation of membership list of all grade of offices without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the
parties in the pending writ petition.
For the purpose of convenience, a separate list shall be prepared for the officers of Grade IV, V and VI and said separate list shall be prepared in
presence of the representatives of the parties as directed above following the same procedure. The list to be prepared for the officers in Grade IV, V
and VI shall be kept in a sealed envelope with Justice Pandit to be produced before the learned Single Judge as and when directed. The authority shall
be at liberty to apply before the learned Single Judge for appropriate orders after this exercise is complete.
We request Justice Pandit to complete the entire process within eight weeks from the date of communication of this order. The report may be filed
before the learned Single Judge in the pending writ petition for consideration.
The learned Counsel representing the majority Union submits that the subscription should be deducted from the salary of the respective employees
after check-off. Since we are of the view that the freedom of choice of the membership should be left to the individual employee and is a matter to be
considered by respective trade unions unless a list is prepared, it would be difficult to ascertain the strength of a trade union. The earlier list prepared
is set aside.
For the time being, the deduction of the subscription by applying online check-off system should not be given effect to. After the entire exercise is
over, all the parties shall be at liberty to apply before the learned Single Judge for appropriate order.
By consent of the parties, the time to file affidavit-in-opposition by the respondents in the pending writ application is extended by three weeks from
date, reply thereto, if any, be filed within three weeks thereafter.
The appeal being MAT 143 of 2020 and the application being CAN 894 of 2020 are accordingly disposed of.
Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to be parities upon compliance of all requisite formalities.