- (1.) THIS is a petition under Article 220 of the Constitution praying for the issue of a writ of certiorari quashing the order of the State Industrial Tribunal in a certain appeal in so far as it effected a modification or amendment of certain draft standing orders submitted by the petitioner company to the Certifying Officer and for the issue of a direction to the State Industrial Tribunal to declare that the said draft standing orders were certifiable under Section 4 of the Industrial employment (Standing Orders) Act (Act XX of 1946 ).
(2.) THE petitioner-company submitted certain draft standing orders to the Certifying Officer for certification in view of Section 3 of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1940, which provides that within six months from the date on which this Act becomes applicable to an industrial establishment, the employer shall submit to the Certifying Officer five copies of the draft standing orders proposed by him for adoption in his industrial establishment. The Certifying Officer passed an order under Section 5, Sub-section (2) of the Act modifying two draft standing orders, namely draft Standing Orders Nos. 15 (a) and 16 (a ). The petitioner went in appeal to the appellate authority which is the industrial court. The appeal with respect to the modifications to these two draft standing orders was rejected by the State Industrial Tribunal, u. P. , at Allahabad. It is this order of the Industrial Tribunal which the petitioner desires to be quashed by this Court.
(3.) THE sole point for consideration is with respect to the power of the Certifying Officer in dealing with the draft standing orders submitted to him. It is contended for the petitioner that the certifying Officer has merely to see whether the draft standing orders contain provision for every matter set out in the Schedule applicable to the industrial establishment and whether the standing orders were otherwise in conformity with the provisions of the Act and that the certifying Officer could not look into the fairness or reasonableness of the provisions of any standing orders. This contention is based on the provisions of Section 4 of the Act, which is " (4) Standing orders shall be certifiable under this Act if (a) provision is made therein for every matter set out in the Schedule which is applicable to the industrial establishment, and (b) the standing orders are otherwise in conformity with the provisions of this Act; and it shall not be the function of the Certifying Officer or appellate authority to adjudicate upon the fairness or reasonableness of the provisions of any standing orders". Reliance is also placed on the case reported in -- 'electric Workers Union v. U. P. Electric supply Co. ,' AIR 1949 All 504 (A ). It is argued that the purpose for which this Act was enacted is to define with precision the conditions of employment, that is to say, to provide for an unambiguous expression of the terms and that, therefore, the Certifying Officer could not have modified the terms of the draft standing orders.;