Krishna Iyer, J. - (1.) Brevity is a necessity in a judgment which proceeds substantially on a consensus among counsel as regards the manner of disposal. Therefore we will be brief in narrating a few facts stating a little law and proceeding straight to the directions to be issued in the light of the controversy arising herein. However, we may indicate even here that there is one question of law which is contentious on which we propose to indicate our view in a general way. This we do because counsel on both sides have pressed that it will be helpful since the High Court has laid down its interpretation with which we do not agree.
(2.) The Maharashtra (Recognition of Trade Unions and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices) Act, 1971 (for short, the "Act") although passed by the legislature in 1971, was, for inscrutable reasons, brought into force on 8th September, 1975. Whether this can be called laws delay or implementation gap is a matter of phraseology but the fact is that when the legislature makes a law (especially, welfare law for the weaker section of the community) it is implicit that the benefits of the legislation to the consumers thereof shall not be delayed by the Executive by bringing it into force long years later. This is another dimension of laws delays not fully known to the public.
(3.) The respondent union applied for recognition under the Act, on 15th December, 1975, to the appropriate authority, viz., the Industrial Court, Admittedly the union then commanded the requisite qualification of 30 per cent membership. But then there are other condition also necessary before an application for recognition can be accorded. At this stage, we may express our pensive reflection on the fact that notwithstanding the direction in S.11 (2) that an application for recognition shall be disposed of, as far as possible, within three months from the date of receipt of the application this particular proceeding has been pending well beyond one year for reasons which we need not investigate here. It is a bad omen for industrial processual justice.;