KANNITTA OIL MILLS WORKERS UNION v. INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL
1987-04-06
G.VISWANATHA.IYER
body1987
DigiLaw.ai
Judgment :- 1. This Original Petition is filed by two Trade Unions challenging the award made by the Industrial Tribunal. Alleppey, on a reference made to it regarding minimum wages payable to workers engaged in processing copra in Alleppey. The workers of the Copra Trading Establishments in Alleppey were represented before the Tribunal by these Unions and two others. 2. The petitioners paid a court fee of Rs.50/-, as under item 11(r) of Schedule.2 to the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959 (Act 10 of 1960), at the rate of Rs.25/- for each petitioner. The Registry has made an endorsement that the Original Petition is filed by the petitioner-Unions in a representative capacity and hence the petitioners were bound to pay court fee for all those directly benefited by the decision in the original petition. Notice was issued to the Advocate General, and the Government Pleader appearing on his behalf, was heard. 3. The Petitioners-Unions are registered Trade Unions as under the Trade Unions Act, 16 of 1926. Every registered union is a body corporate, by the name under which it is registered, with perpetual succession and a common seal. It shall sue and be sued by the said name (Vide S.13). 4. A Corporation is a collection of individuals united into one body under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form and vested by the policy of the law with the capacity of acting in several respects as an individual particularly, of suing and being sued (Halsbury). A body corporate has its own separate identity and legal personality quite apart from that of the members constituting it. The law recognises it as a legal person separate and distinct from its members. This new legal personality emerges from the moment of its registration or incorporation and from that date the person subscribing to the memorandum of association and other persons joining as members are regarded as body corporate or a corporation aggregate and a new legal person begins to function as an entity. The persona that comes, into being is not the aggregate of the personae either in law or in metaphor. The corporate body is an abstraction of law and is at law a different person altogether from the subscribers to the memorandum of association (Vide State Trading Corporation of India v. Commercial Tax Officer, AIR 1963 SC 1811). 5.
The persona that comes, into being is not the aggregate of the personae either in law or in metaphor. The corporate body is an abstraction of law and is at law a different person altogether from the subscribers to the memorandum of association (Vide State Trading Corporation of India v. Commercial Tax Officer, AIR 1963 SC 1811). 5. The dispute in this case has been raised at the instance of the petitioner-Union and they have represented the workers in the proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal. The two unions are entitled by themselves to file this original petition challenging the award. The writ petition is filed by two corporate entities. It is not disputed that if a writ petition is filed by a registered society or by an incorporated company, court fee would have been payable only as for an individual petitioner, even though the success of the writ petition will enure to the benefit of the members of the society or the share-holders in general. This is for the reason that the society or corporation has a legal personality of its own, distinct from the members or shareholders. The lame should be the case when the writ petition it filed by a Trade Union which has a distinct legal personality of its own. The court fee of Rs.50/ paid by the petitioners is therefore sufficient. 6. Counsel for the petitioners referred me to the decision in H.E.E. Union v. S. I. Court (AIR 1976 MP 66) where the High Court of Madhya Pradesh held that when employees aggrieved by the award in an industrial dispute of a collective nature jointly file a writ petition, court fee need be paid only as for a single writ petition. The Court observed: "In an industrial dispute of a collective nature between the employers and the employees the employees are usually represented by their Unions before the Labour Court or the Industrial Court. They can also join as petitioners in such a case if they so desire. When they come up before this Court for challenging the order of the Labour Court or the Industrial Court, the relief claimed by them is one and the same and the cause of action is alto the same.
They can also join as petitioners in such a case if they so desire. When they come up before this Court for challenging the order of the Labour Court or the Industrial Court, the relief claimed by them is one and the same and the cause of action is alto the same. In such a case, if they join as petitioners either because they are not represented by any Union or for some other reason court-fee of Rs.25 alone would suffice because each of them is not expected to file a separate petition for an Identical relief." I need not however go into this question for purpose of this case as the petitioners have already paid a court fee of Rs.50/- for two petitioners. I, therefore hold that the court fee paid is sufficient. The office will number the Original Petition.