Indian Immunologicals Employees'' Union vs Government of India, Ministry of Labour, New Delhi and another

The petitioner is a Trade Union and in this writ petition it has assailed the validity of the Order of the Government of India dated 16-4-1998 refusing to refer the industrial dispute raised by it for compulsory adjudication before the Industrial Court.

According to the petitioner''s Union, they demanded that the Management should declare 18-1-1996 as the holiday inasmuch as on that date, late N.T. Rama Rao, former Chief Minister of the State died, as a mark of respect to the departed soul and the Management did not accede to its request. In the circumstances, the petitioner-Trade Union moved the Conciliation Officer viz., the Assistant Labour Commissioner (C)-I, Hyderabad. The Assistant Commissioner of Labour after conciliation of the dispute submitted a failure report to the Government of India. The Government of India by the impugned order refused to refer the Industrial dispute to the Industrial Court for adjudication. The reason given by the Government of India reads as under :

"It is found that the management had already declared 19-1-1996 as a holiday and hence the demand of the union for declaration of 18-1-1996 as a holiday is not tenable."

Sri G. Vidya Sagar, learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner-Trade Union contended that the reason given by the Government of India not to refer the industrial dispute tantamounts to adjudicating upon the merits of the demand of the Trade Union and such a course is totally impermissible having regard to the settled position in law.

It is true that it is well settled by large number of pronouncements of the Supreme Court and this Court that the power conferred upon the appropriate Government u/s 10(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act is an administrative function and not a judicial or quasi judicial function and therefore in performing that administrative function, the Government cannot delve into the merits of the dispute and take upon itself the determination of the lis. At the same time, it is also well established principle governing judicial review that the Court shall not issue writs in trivial and frivolous matters. In the instant case, the Trade Union had demanded that 18-1-1996 should be declared as holiday immediately after it came to know about the demise of late N.T. Rama Rao, former Chief Minister of the State. It is true that 18-1-1996 was not declared as holiday by the Management, but the next day i.e., 19-1-1996 was declared to be holiday by the Management. It is not that the petitioner-Trade Union had demanded for declaring both 18-1-1996 and 19-1-1996 as holidays. Inasmuch as the Management declared 19-1-1996 as holiday instead of 18-1-1996 and since the petitioner''s Union did not demand that both the days i.e., 18-1-1996 and 19-1-1996 should be declared as holidays as a mark of respect to the former Chief Minister, I am of the considered opinion that the lis brought before the Court being very trivial, does not warrant interference by this Court in exercise of the extraordinary jurisdiction conferred upon it under Article 226 of the Constitution. The Writ Petition is therefore dismissed. No costs.