B. N. Agrawal, J. - (1.) Judgment impugned in these appeals has been rendered by a Division Bench of Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court in special appeals upholding that passed by a learned single Judge of that Court in writ applications filed by the workmen of Kisan Sahkari Chini Mills Ltd., Sultanpur, U. P. (hereinafter referred to as the Mill) whereby the same have been allowed, orders of termination of services of the workmen (hereinafter referred to as the contesting respondents) quashed and directions have been given for regularisation of their services within a period of two years.
(2.) The short facts are that the Mill is a co-operative society registered as such under Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Societies Act, 1965. The contesting respondents filed various writ applications in the High Court alleging therein that they had worked on Class III and IV posts in the Mill for a period ranging from 5 to 12 years. According to them, some of them were permanent workmen whereas others were seasonal. Uttar Pradesh Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Federation) is the apex body of co-operative sugar mills in the State and its function is advisory in order to safeguard operational and financial interest of the sugar mills. On 22nd November, 1999, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Federation, who was also Secretary to the Government of Uttar Pradesh in the Department of Sugar Industry and Cane Development, had sent a letter to General Manager of the Mill in which it was mentioned that during the course of discussion the Managing Director had with the General Manager and other officers of the Mill, it transpired that out of 708 workmen working in the Mill, 401 were surplus whose services were required to be dispensed with in view of the deteriorating financial condition of the Mill. By the said letter the Mill was advised to consider the desirability of dispensing with services of its surplus workmen. Thereupon, services of surplus workmen were dispensed with without giving any notice and paying retrenchment compensation as required under Section 6N of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) in spite of the fact that they had worked for more than 240 days which necessitated filing of the various writ applications in the High Court.
(3.) Writ applications were contested by the Mill on grounds, inter alia, that the Mill, which is a co-operative society, was neither State nor instrumentality or agency of the State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, hence, the writ jurisdiction of the High Court could not be invoked. According to them, service conditions of the contesting respondents, who were the workmen, were governed by standing orders of the Mill and the dispute raised by them related to enforcement of rights and obligations created under the Act, as such the remedy available to them was to raise an industrial dispute under the provisions of the Act. Further ground of contest was that although the workmen had claimed to have worked between the years 1983-84 to 2000-01 but in not a single year, the Mill was operational for a period of 240 days inasmuch as the period of operation of the Mill during the aforesaid period was from 45 days to 199 days. According to them, the contesting respondents were seasonal workers and as they did not work for a period of 240 days in any year, were not entitled to claim protection under Section 6N of the Act.;