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South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. . vs Rashtriya Colliery Majdoor Congress on 30 September, 2021

Bench: Hemant Gupta, V. Ramasubramanian

                                                       1

                                         IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
                                          CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION


                                       CIVIL APPEAL    NO.2907 OF 2014


     SOUTH EASTERN COALFIELDS LTD.                  & ORS.                  APPELLANT(S)

                                                      VERSUS

     RASHTRIYA COLLIERY MAJDOOR CONGRESS & ORS.                             RESPONDENT(S)



                                                      WITH

                                            C.A. NO.6121 OF 2021
                                          (@ SLP(C) No.2015/2011)



                                                    O R D E R

Leave granted in SLP(C) No.2015/2011. The challenge in the present appeals is to an order passed by the Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on 09.11.2010 whereby a circular dated 14.07.2007 was quashed and the appellants were directed to extend the benefit of check-off facility to the first respondent.

The question in the present appeal is whether a non-affiliated Union to the 5 Central Trade Unions is entitled to seek check-off facility i.e. whether deduction of the contribution of the employees to the Trade Union by the employer is permissible under Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by R Natarajan Date: 2021.10.01 Section 7(2)(kkk) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (in short, ‘the 16:58:38 IST Reason:

Act’). Section 7(2)(kkk) of the Act reads thus:

“7. Deductions which may be made from wages.-

(1) ……………………… (2) Deductions from the wages of an employed person shall be made only in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and may be of the following kinds only, namely-

(kkk) deductions made, with the written authorisation of the employed person, for payment of the fees payable by him for the membership of any trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926 (16 of 1926);

………….” The requirements of the above provision is in two folds, firstly, that the membership is of a registered Trade Union under the Trade Unions Act, 1926 and secondly, there is a written authorization of the employed person, for payment of the fees payable by him for the membership of such a Trade Union. Therefore, whether any Union is affiliated to the Central Unions or not, is not contemplated by the Act.

Consequently, we do not find any error in the order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court. It is clarified that if there is a registered Trade Union and the person employed submits a written authorization for the payment of membership fee, the same is bound to be allowed by the appellants.

With the abovesaid directions and liberty, the appeals stand disposed of.

In the light of the above, no orders are called for in Interlocutory Application No.8 for impleadment.

Pending application(s), if any, also stand disposed of.

……………………………………………………J. [HEMANT GUPTA] ……………………………………………………J. [V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN] NEW DELHI;

30th SEPTEMBER, 2021
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ITEM NO.106                    COURT NO.11                  SECTION IV-C

                S U P R E M E C O U R T O F        I N D I A
                        RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Civil Appeal   No(s).    2907/2014

SOUTH EASTERN COALFIELDS LTD. & ORS.                      Appellant(s)
                                VERSUS

RASHTRIYA COLLIERY MAJDOOR CONGRESS & ORS.                 Respondent(s)

(I.A. No.8 (Application for impleadment) ) WITH SLP(C) No. 2015/2011 (IV-C) Date : 30-09-2021 These matters were called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT GUPTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V. RAMASUBRAMANIAN For Appellant(s)/ Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr. Adv. Petitioner Mr. T. G. Narayanan Nair, AOR Ms. Priya Balakrishna, Adv.

Mr. Kunal Verma, AOR Ms. Yugandhara Pawar Jha, Adv.

Mr. Ashwin Kumar Nair, Adv.

For respondent(s) Mr. Colin Gonsalves Sr. Adv.

Mr. Amiy Shukla, Adv.

Mr. Sunil Singh Parihar, Adv.

Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR Mr. Amit Pawan, AOR For applicant(s) Mr. Upendra Pratap Singh, Adv.

Ms. Kheyali Singh, Adv.

Mr. Abhay Kumar, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted in SLP(C) No.2015/2011. The appeals are disposed of in terms of the signed order. Pending application(s), if any, also stand disposed of. (SWETA BALODI) (RENU BALA GAMBHIR) COURT MASTER (SH) COURT MASTER (NSH) (Signed order is placed on the file)