- (1.) The Petitioner before me, under Article 226 of the Constitution, is a Trade Union of Railway employees, registered as the Eastern Railway Employees Congress, which claims a membership of over 34,000 consisting of Class III and IV (i.e., non-gazetted) staff of the Eastern Railway. On the representation of the Petitioner, the Government of India offered their recognition to this Trade Union, by their letter of February 2, 1962, subject to certain terms and conditions (Ann. A to the petition), and, on the acceptance by the Petitioner of those terms and conditions, such recognition was conferred by the Government letter of February 7, 1982 (Ann. D). One of these terms and conditions was that the Petitioner would revise its constitution to bring it in conformity with the terms of Part C of App. XIII (hereafter referred to as 'the Appendix') of the Railway Establishment Code, Vol. I (hereinafter referred to as 'the Code') which lays down the 'conditions precedent to the recognition of a Union by a Railway Administration'. The petitioner's case is that before the petitioner could take steps in the matter of revision of its constitution, Respondent No. 1, the General Manager of the Eastern Railway, at the instance of Respondent No. 2, the Chief Personnel Officer, arbitrarily and illegally deleted from its order of recognition, one of the branches of the petitioner, namely, the Printing Branch (vide circular of the 26th March. 1962, being Ex. E to the counter-affidavit filed by respondent No. 2), and that negotiations relating to that matter are still going on as between the parties (vide Ann. O to the Affidavit-in-reply). By another order of the 29th September, 1962, respondent No. 2 directed an examination of the books of account and membership register and as a result, the petitioner alleges, all the books of the petitioner were detained in its head office and its normal functioning was hampered so that it was not possible to convene the annual general meeting of the petitioner trade union at which only the constitution could be revised.
(2.) On July 22, 1963, a charge-sheet issued by respondent No. 1 was served upon the petitioner to show cause why the recognition granted to the petitioner should not be withdrawn in view of two charges, which are as follows: "1. Violating the terms and conditions of recognition granted to you under this office letter No. AE 4223/11/EC dated 7-2-62, in that- Non-production of the pledge forms of railway employees, who are members of the Eastern Railway Employees' Congress, when demanded by the administration under letter No. AE. 4223/EC dated 21-3-63, on the ground that it was not obligatory and that such forms are to be signed only when they are required to be done by the Working Committee vide your letter No. WP/C/ORG/63 dated 23-3-63. This is in direct contravention of para 13 of Part C of Appendix XIII of the Indian Railway Establishment Code, Vol. I (1951 edition), and para 5 of the Constitution of the Eastern Railway Employees Congress. 2. Inflating the number of members: (a) by showing some persons twice in the same year. A few such cases are shown in Annexure 'A', (b) by showing names of employees when such persons were not really members of the Eastern Railway Employees' Congress. A few such cases are shown vide Annexure 'B' ".
(3.) On these charges, respondent No. 1 passed the impugned order on August 5, 1963 withdrawing the recognition granted to the petitioner union, on the basis of an incomplete statement which the petitioner had been obliged to submit on July 31, 1963. The material portion of the impugned order (Ann. M) is in these words- "I have carefully considered the reply to the show-cause notice as given in your letter No. EREC/Con/1/63, dated 31-7-63 and also the facts brought out in your letter of even No. of 1-8-63 and am satisfied that the charges contained in the laid show cause notice No. AE. 4223/11/EC. dated 19-7-63 have been established. I am also satisfied satisfied that you have been given all reasonable facilities to submit your reply to the show-cause notice mentioned. Now, in terms of para 1 of the Rules for the recognition of Associations of Non-gazetted Railway servants under Part 'B' of Appendix XIII of Indian Railway Establishment Code, Vol. 1 (1951 edition), which was sent to you as an enclosure to this office letter of even number dated 2-2-62 and accepted by you under your letter No. GS/Recognition/62/4 dated 3-2-62, I, the undersigned, hereby withdraw the recognition granted to you by my letter No. AE. 4223/11/EC. dated 7-2-62, with Immediate effect.";