PRAKASH KRISHNA, J. - (1.) CHALLENGING the order dated January 25, 2010 passed by the Registrar, Trade Unions, the present writ petition has been filed. By the order dated March 18, 2009 registration of Form 'J' was granted in recognition of the election of petitioners Trade Union. By the subsequent order which is impugned herein, the said registration Form T has been recalled. The main challenge is that the Registrar does not possess any such power. To appreciate the controversy involved, the facts of the case may be noticed in brief.
(2.) THE petitioners claimed that there is a registered Trade Union in the name and style of "Roadways Mazdoor Sabha, U.P.". THE election of the said Trade Union was held in the year 2002 and since then, no election did take place. For the first time, an election was held after about eight years in the year 2008. In the election which was held in the year 2002 Jaiveer Singh Yadav was elected as President who is petitioner no. 2 herein and Vishnudev Pandey was elected as Secretary, respondent no.6 herein. THE election of the year 2008 was held at Etawah. It has been averred in the writ petition that the election of the petitioners Trade Union was held on December 29, 2008 at Etawah wherein 141 delegates were present. In the said election Jaiveer Singh Yadav was elected as President and Sri O.P. Rathore, as Secretary. The papers were forwarded to the Registrar, Trade Union who issued Form 'J' to the petitioners Trade Union. The further averment is that the respondent no.6 herein formed a different faction and he set up a rival Trade Union. He without holding any election allegedly elected Jaswant Singh as President, Vishnu Dev Pandey as Secretary and Sri Mahendra Pratap Singh as Vice Secretary in the alleged election held on December 29, 2008 The said elected office bearers formed rival Committee of the Trade Union. The further allegation is that Jaswant Singh, the alleged elected President could not be elected at all as he was expelled from the membership vide letter dated June 15, 2008 The further allegation is that the validity of the election held in the year 2009 as set out by the petitioners Trade Union is being examined by the Deputy Labour Commissioner as is evident from his letter dated December 3, 2009 The matter is still pending consideration. The elections were valid for a period of one year. As per the bye laws No. 38 the election is required to be held in the month of September or October of every year and the elected office-bearers shall hold the office from the date of entering there in the office till the date of next election. The impugned order of the Registrar, Trade Union ordering the holding of fresh election as per the approved bye laws of the Trade Union for the year October 1, 2009 within a period of three months is illegal and arbitrary. A counter affidavit has been filed by Sri Vishnu Dev Pandey on behalf of the respondent nos. 5 and 6 on the pleas inter alia that the present writ petition at the instance of Jaiveer Singh, petitioner no. 2 is not maintainable as he is not the President of Roadways Mazdoor Sabha. Form 'J' which issued earlier has been recalled. No such election as stated by the petitioners was held at Etawah. Reference has been made to Section 28 of Indian Trade Unions Act, 1926 and to the fact that in pursuance of the impugned order, a fresh election has already taken place wherein the contesting respondents have been declared office bearers. The allegation that Jaswant was expelled from the membership has been denied. It has been further stated that proper opportunity of hearing was afforded to the petitioners as is evident from the letter dated December 3, 2009 asking him to appear before the authority on December 23, 2009 but the petitioner no.2 chose not to appear. In the rejoinder affidavit the pleas raised in the writ petition has been reiterated.
(3.) HEARD Sri T.P. Singh, learned senior counsel for the petitioners, and Sri K.P. Agrawal, learned senior counsel for the contesting respondents. Sri T.P. Singh, learned senior counsel for the petitioners, submits that the order recognizing the election of petitioners was passed by the Registrar, Trade Unions by issuing Form 'J'. The said order could not have been reviewed subsequently. Elaborating the argument, it was submitted that the election of the year 2008 was valid for a period of one year up to 2009. After the expiry of the aforesaid period, a fresh election has taken place. This being so, there was no occasion to recall the Form 'J' issued for the election held in the year 2008 by the impugned drder dated January 25, 2010 Sri K.P. Agrawal, learned senior counsel for the contesting respondent, does not dispute that the Registrar, Trade Unions does ,not possess any power to review its earlier order, but with a caveat he submits that it possesses power to recall its own order on the principle that power to pass an order implies the power to recall order. Power to recall an order is explicit in the power to pass an order. On the facts of tt,ie present case, admittedly, no election was held after the year 2002, thus, the holding of a fresh flection after giving opportunity to all the persons, cannot be said, in any manner, to be prejudicial, to the petitioners or to any other person. The remedy of the petitioners is to file a civil suit to establish the legality and validity of their election if they are so aggrieved by the order passed by the Registrar, Trade Union. Registrar, Trade Unions does not possess any power to go into the question of legality and validity, of an election, submits the learned senior counsel for the contesting respondents. He further submits that in any view of the matter, the election having taken place in pursuance of the impugned order dated January 25, 2010, no interference under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is called for and the writ petition deserves dismissal. Considered the respective submissions of fhe learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. Before proceeding further, certain facts which are not in dispute but have a bearing to a great extent in setting up a democratic , atmosphere in an elected body may be noted.;