Skip to main content

Trade union can't include staff of separated firm


When one unit of a group of companies separates itself to form an independent firm, the trade union of the original group can not keep the employees of the new firm on its rolls. The bye-laws of the union can not be amended to allow erstwhile employees of the group to continue as members, even if they pay subscription fees, the Supreme Court stated in its judgment, All Escorts Employees’ Union vs State of Haryana. The Escorts group originally included Escorts Ltd, Escorts Yamaha Ltd (a joint venture), Escorts JCB Ltd, Escorts Class Ltd and Escorts Hospital. In 2001, the two-wheeler manufacturer Yamaha segregated and formed a separate company, which was an Indian subsidiary of the Japanese parent. Escorts stopped making twowheelers. The trade union tried to attract the erstwhile employees of the Yamaha unit by changing the bye-laws. The registrar of the trade union did not allow it. The Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld the registrar’s decision. The union came up on appeal to the Supreme Court arguing that its membership was open to any one who wanted to join it and every worker has a con stitutional right to do so. The court rejected the arguments of the union and stated that various provisions of the Trade Union Act implicitly con fined the membership to those who are work men of the industry where they are employed. More over, in this particular case, Yamaha employees have formed their own union which was registered in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. 

Comments

Most viewed this month

The recovery of vehicles by the financier not an offence - SC

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 8907  of 2009 Anup Sarmah (Petitioner) Vs Bhola Nath Sharma & Ors.(Respondents) The petitioner submitted that  respondents-financer had forcibly taken away the vehicle financed by them and  illegally deprived the petitioner from its lawful possession  and  thus,  committed  a crime. The complaint filed by the petitioner had been  entertained  by  the Judicial Magistrate (Ist Class), Gauhati (Assam) in Complaint Case  No.  608 of 2009, even directing the interim custody of the vehicle (Maruti  Zen)  be given to the petitioner vide order dated  17.3.2009.  The respondent on approaching the Guwahati High  Court against this order, the hon'ble court squashed the criminal  proceedings  pending   before  the  learned Magistrate. After hearing both sides, the Hon'ble Supreme Court decided on 30th...

When debt is bona fide disputed and the defence is a substantial one, the court will not wind up the company

In SHITAL FIBERS LTD.  vs  INDIAN ACRYLICS LIMITED, as per the respondent, appellant had made a payment of Rs.61,83,218/­. However, there was an outstanding balance of Rs.8,92,723/­ as on 28.7.2008. Since despite repeated requests, balance amount was not paid, the respondent issued a statutory notice to the appellant. The same was duly responded to. As the payment was not made despite notice being duly served on the appellant, the respondent filed the aforesaid Company Petition seeking winding up of the present appellant for its inability to pay admitted debts. The learned Company Judge vide order dated 28.9.2015 admitted the Company Petition. However, while doing so, the learned Company Judge observed, that since the appellant was an on­going concern, an opportunity should be granted to it to settle the accounts with the respondent by 31.12.2015. Only in case of failure of the settlement, the citation was directed to be published. On appeal, the Division Bench of the High Cou...

Abusing in-laws a ground for divorce: SC

Abusing in-laws and not allowing them to reside in the matrimonial home by a woman amounts to cruelty to her spouse, ground enough for grant of divorce, the Supreme Court has ruled while allowing an NRI's plea for legal separation from his wife. A bench of Justices Vikaramajit Sen and A M Sapre said such incidents could not be termed as "wear and tear" of family life as held by Madras High Court which had said that a couple must be prepared to face such situations in matrimonial relationship. The NRI had filed a divorce petition alleging that his wife was abusive to his family members and did not allow his parents and siblings to stay in his house when they visited the US. Referring to an incident, the husband told the court that his wife had once locked him and his sister out of the house and abused them saying they belonged to a 'prostitute family'. She refused to allow her sister-in-law to enter the house and even lodged a police complaint against her hu...