- (1.) THE petitioners in these petitions for issue of writs in the nature of 'certiorari, mandamus' and prohibition are the Deoria Sugar Mills, Ltd. , peoria, and Shri Sita Ram Sugar Company, Ltd. , baitalpur, District Deoria.
(2.) THE facts alleged on behalf of the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 134 of 1950 are that, under the orders of the Government of Uttar Predesh, the petitioner-company was directed to pay out a fixed amount as bonus for the year 1947-48 in the year 1949 to the workers of the sugar factory, the definition of 'workers' being as given in Sub-rule 8 of Rule 11 of the Rules framed under the u. P. Sugar Factories Control Act, 1933. Interpreting this order as including workers employed at the Head Office of the Company at Calcutta the petitioner-company made pro rata payments to the workers employed at Deoria as well as to those employed at the Head Office at Calcutta. The Deoria Chini Mill Mazdoor Union, representing the workmen employed in the company at deoria, contended that no bonus was payable to the members of the staff at the Head Office at calcutta and that the entire amount of bonus should have been disbursed to the workmen at deoria who had received proportionately larger amounts. This gave rise to an industrial dispute which was taken cognizance of by the Regional conciliation Board, Gorakhpur, which gave an award respecting the dispute but stayed its decision on the issue whether bonus was rightly paid to the workmen at Calcutta pending the decision of the same issue in a previous case which was pending before the Industrial Court (Sugar), Lucknow. Against this award, appeals were filed by the petitioner-company as well as by the Deoria Chini mill Mazdoor Union, Deoria, before the Industrial Court (Sugar), Lucknow. The Industrial court, after hearing the appeals, submitted its report to the Government of Uttar Pradesh, holding that the factory should distribute the entire amount of bonus to the workmen at Deoria and, consequently, recommended that the petitioner-company should be directed to distribute the amount, which it had wrongly distributed to the Head office staff at Calcutta, amongst the workmen, at Deoria. On this finding, the appeal of the petitioner-company was dismissed. The state of Uttar Pradesh, on the basis of this report, issued an order No. 900 (ST)/xviii-430 (ST)/48, dated 27-3-1950, by which it enforced the findings of the Industrial Court (Sugar), Lucknow, contained in the report mentioned above.
(3.) THE facts of the other case (Miscellaneous Writ Case No. 214 of 1950) are exactly similar. In that case also, a specified amount was payable as bonus to the workmen for the year 1947-4and by the petitioner-company in 1949 and, in distributing the bonus, workmen employed at the Head, office at Calcutta were included. An industrial dispute was raised by the Rashtriya Chini Mill mazoor Sangh, Baitalpur, representing the workmen employed by the petitioner-company at baitalpur. The dispute was first decided by the Regional Conciliation Board, Gorakhpur, on 24-5-1949, and, on appeal, the Industrial Court (Sugar), Lucknow, formulated its report on 30-11-1949, to the same effect as in Miscellaneous (Writ) Petition No. 184 of 1950. The State government, on the basis of this report, issued Order No. 4301 (ST)/xviii-469 (ST)/48. dated 17-12-1949.;