P L D 1975 Karachi 474 (PLP)

R. H. S. Malik, Labour Officer for Respondent No.

4. Date of hearing : 18th March 1975. This constitutional petition turns on a very short point of law. As the petitioner as well as the third respondent were both registered Trade Unions for the employees of the Bakhsh Textile Mills Limited, the first respondent decided to hold a referendum by a secret ballot under section 22 (2) of the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969 (hereinafter called the said Ordinance), in order to decide which of these two Unions was to be the Collective Bargaining Agent of the employees of the Bakhsh Textile Mills Ltd. The notice sent by the first respondent in this connection to the petitioner is dated 10‑7‑1974 and is Annexure `A' to the petition. It directed the petitioner inter alia to submit a list of its members, "showing in respect of each member his parentage, age, the section or Department and the place in which he is employed, his ticket/card number and the date of his becoming a member." A similar notice was sent to the third respondent. But whilst the petitioner complied with this notice and sent a list of all its members to the first respondent, the third respondent did not. Accordingly, a reminder was sent to this respondent on 27th July 1974. Further, according to the petitioner, the referendum was to be held on 1‑8‑1974, but as the third respondent had not submitted its list of members, it sought an extension of time by a letter dated 1‑8‑

74. The authenticity of this letter is under some doubt, and it has been denied by Mr. Qureshi. Be that as it may, in the events what happened, the referendum was held on the 10th August 1974, and the third respondent sent the list of its members before that date. The fourth respondent was also required under subsection (4) of section 22 of the said Ordinance to send to the first respondent a list of those of its workmen who had been in its employment for more than 3 months. This list was probably received late by the first respondent therefore, the verified list of voters was not supplied to the petitioner until the date of the referendum. The petitioner's plea in this connection is that as this was in breach of the mandatory provisions of subsection (5) of section 22 of the said Ordinance, it had protested to the first respondent. It also claims to have protested to the first respondent on the further ground that the verified list was in breach of the mandatory provisions of subsections (4) and (5) of the said section

22. Having thus recorded its protest, it participated in the referendum, but as it lost by 77 votes, this petition has been filed to challenge the appointment of the third respondent as Collective Bargaining Agent on the ground that the referendum was vitiated by the two illegalities to which I have referred. None of the respondents, though served, filed any counter‑affidavit to deny the express allegations made by the petitioner in its petition. However, the first two respondents have submitted what is described as a reply statement, and I will refer to it if necessary. In order to appreciate the submissions advanced before me, it is necessary to refer briefly to‑ the provisions of section 22 of the said Ordinance. As I observed earlier, the Collective Bargaining Agent has to be elected by a secret ballot when there is more than one registered Trade Union, and as both the learned counsel referred to this secret ballot as a referendum, T have used this expression. It is not disputed before me that a referendum was required in the instant case, and the notices sent out by the first res pondent on or about 17‑7‑1974 were in strict compliance with the provisions of subsection (3) of section

22. Now subsection (4) of this section imposed an obligation on the employer to submit a list of persons to the first respondent. As the provisions of this subsection are important, I would quote them here, in so far as they are relevant : "(4) Every employer shall‑ (a) on being so required by the Registrar, submit a list of all workmen employed in the establishment excluding those whose period of employ ment in the establishment is less than three months and showing, in respect of each workman, his parentage, age, the section or depart ment and the place in which he is employed, his ticket number and the date of his employment in the establishment." Subsections (5) and (6) are also relevant and read s "(5) The Registrar shall, after verification of the lists submitted fey Trade Unions, prepare a list of voters in which shall be included the Annexure 'F' was supplied to the petitioner in breach of the mandatory provisions of subsection (5) of section

22. In the result, the petition is allowed with costs and I set aside the appoint ment of the third respondent as collective bargaining agent of the workmen of the Bakhsh Textile Mills Ltd. The first respondent will proceed to take steps under section 22 to hold a fresh secret ballot as required under section 22 of the said Ordinance. . K. B. A. Petition accepted