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CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No.86 of 1958. Appeal by special leave from the Award dated November 15, 1956, of the Industrial Tribunal, Assam, at Dhubri. M. C. Setalvad, Attorney-General for India, S. N. Mukherjee and B. N. Ghose, for the appellants. Niharendu Dutt Mazumdar and Dipak Dutta Choudhri, for the respondents.

1959. October 14. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SINHA C. J.-This is an appeal by special leave from the Award dated November 15, 1956, made by the Industrial Tribunal, Assam. The dispute arose between the employers, the Indian General Navigation & Railway Company Limited, carrying on business at No. 4, Fairlie Place, Calcutta, and the Rivers Steam Navigation Company Limited, carrying on business at No. 2, Fairlie Place, Calcutta, which will be referred to, in the course of this judgment, as the appellants', and their workmen at Dhubri Ghat, represented by the Dhubri Transshipment Labour Union and Dhubri Local Ghat Transhipment Labour Union, Dhubri, which will be referred to hereinafter as the respondents'. The Award aforesaid was published in the Assam Gazette on December 19, 1956.

It is necessary to state the following, facts in order to appreciate the points arising for decision in this case: The appellants carry on business of inland water transport in North East India and in Pakistan, in association with each other, and are commonly known as the Joint Steamer Companies. The appellants jointly maintain a large number of wharves, jetties, godowns, etc., at different river stations in India and in Pakistan, for the purposes of their business. One such station is at Dhubri in Assam. At that station, a large number of workmen are employed for the purpose of loading and unloading the appellant's vessels and for transshipping goods from railway wagons to the appellants' vessels and vice versa. Before May, 1954, such workmen were employed by a contractor called the Assam Labour Supply Syndicate which will hereinafter be referred to as 'the Syndicate'. Those workmen were organized under two labour unions, called (1) the Dhubri Transhipment Labour Union which was affiliated to the Indian National Trade Union Congress -which is, a Federation of Trade Unions, and (2) the Dhubri Local Ghat Transhipment Labour Union. There were differences between the Syndicate and its employees who made certain demands, and has threatened to go on strike to enforce their demands. Conciliation proceedings under the industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (which will hereinafter be referred to as the Act), took place, in the course of which certain agreements to be referred to in greater detail hereinafter, were reached between the Syndicate and the respondents on February 23, 1953, and March 30, 1953. On May 3, 1954, by virtue of a Memorandum of that date, an agreement was arrived 'at between the appellants and the respondents, whereby the appellants agreed that instead of employing a contractor to handle the work of loading and unloading and transhipment of goods, the appellants would employ supervisors and agents to handle the work "

pending the proposed Tripartite Conference to decide the issue of permanent direct employment of employees for the future ". The appellants also agreed to maintain continuity of service of the workmen and the existing terms and conditions of their service. The Tripartite Conference contemplated by the Agreement, was to consist of the represent. natives of the appellants, the workmen and the Government of Assam. As a result of the Tripartite Con- ference held on July 9 & 10, 1954, an agreement was reached between the appellants and the Indian National Trade Union Congress, which was incorporated in the form of a letter dated July 16, 1954, from the General Secretary of the Congress, Assam Branch, Dhubri Ghat, to the several Unions at different stations, including Dhubri. As a result of this agreement, the appellants agreed, inter alia, to introduce permanent direct employment at all the transhipment ghats of Assam, progressively, without prejudicing the agreement of May 3, 1954. It will be necessary hereinafter to consider some of the terms of this agreement in detail, when dealing with the several points in controversy between the parties.

On July 21, 1955, one B. Chakravarty, Secretary, Dhubri Transhipment Labour Union, served a notice on the appellants under sub-s. (i) of s. 22 of the Act, that " I propose to call a strike on the 11th August, 1955, from zero hours, if the following demands be not fulfilled within fourteen days on receipt of this notice". Then followed an annexure containing ten demands which need not be set out here. A similar notice was also served by the Secretary Dhubri Local Ghat Transhipment Labour Union on the same date' the annexure in this case containing eleven demands. On July 26, 1955, the Conciliation Officer of the Government of Assam, received the notice of the strike. He held conciliation proceedings on August 6, 1955, but those proceedings ended abruptly without arriving at any settlement. On August 8, 1955, the said Conciliation Officer, who was the Labour Officer of Gauhati, by his letter bearing the same date, informed the Labour Commissioner, Assam, about the failure of the conciliation proceedings, and forwarded copies of that letter to the appellants and the workmen's Union at Dhubri. Without waiting for the statutory period of seven days from the date of failure of the conciliation proceedings, a large number of workmen concerned went on strike with effect from the mid-night of August 10, 1953, in pursuance of the notices of strike aforesaid. They were alleged by the appellants not only to have gone on strike, but also to have forcibly entered the appellants' jetties and other working places and prevented the loyal workmen, who were willing to carry on the transhipment work, from carrying on their normal work. The strike is, therefore, alleged to have been illegal. On August 11, 1955, the District Magistrate, Goal para, promulgated an 'order under s. 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, prohibiting the "holding of any meetings, demonstrations, pro cessions, or causing threat, obstructions, annoyance or injury directed against the persons lawfully employed in the following areas in the Dhabri Town and its suburbs".