Kannitta and Oil Mill Workers Union and Another vs Industrial Tribunal and Others

T.L. Viswanatha Iyer, J.—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.

The petitioners paid a court-fee of Rs. 50, under item 11(r) of Schedule II to the Kerala Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959 (Act No. 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.

The petitioner-unions are registered trade unions under the Trade Unions Act, XVI 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 Section 13).

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 persons 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 persons either in law or in metaphor. The corporate body is an abstraction of law and is at law a person altogether different from the subscribers to the memorandum of association (vide State Trading Corporation of India v. Commercial Tax Officer [1963] 33 Comp Cas 1057 : AIR 1963 SC 1811.

The dispute in this case has been raised at the instance of the petitioner-unions 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 shareholders 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 same should be the case when the writ petition is 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.

Counsel for the petitioners referred me to the decision in Heavy Electricals Employees'' Union and Others Vs. State Industrial Court, M.P., Indore and Others, , 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 (at page 68) :

"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 also 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 purposes 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.