S. 3(b) of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, does not have retrospective effect and can be availed of by the State Government only in an emergency and as a temporary measure. The provisions of S. 3(b) are not violative of Arts. 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

Judgment

MUDHOLKAR, J. : This is an appeal by the State of Uttar Pradesh against the decision of the Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court in a writ petition. In the writ petition the respondents challenged certain orders made by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under S. 3, cl. (b) of the United Provinces Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (XXVII of 1947) requiring the respondents to pay bonus at certain rates for the years 1947-48 and 1948-49 to their workers and also payment of retaining allowances to the skilled seasonal workmen and clerical staff. The circumstances under which the orders were made are briefly these:

The Indian National Sugar Mills Workers Federation, Lucknow, served notices on various sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh on December 15, 1949, in which they made six demands. We need, however, mention only one of them as that alone is in controversy in this appeal. That demand related to the bonus for the year 1948-49 and to the restoration of the reduction which had been made in the previous year s bonus. By that notice the Federation threatened a strike in the industry with effect from January 16, 1960, if the demands were not met by the sugar factories. Since this situation brought into existence an industrial dispute, the Government of Uttar Pradesh, in exercise of the power conferred by Ss. 6 and 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (XIV of 1947) appointed a Court of Inquiry and referred the dispute to it. The notification also stated the points which were referred to the Court of Inquiry. That notification was twice amended but nothing turns on those amendments. A full enquiry was held by the Court of Inquiry at which the representatives of both the employers as well as the employees were represented and material was placed before the Court of Inquiry by both the sides. The Court of Inquiry submitted its report to the Government of April 15, 1950. On receipt of this report the Government of Uttar Pradesh published the report in the Uttar Pradesh gazette on May 8, 1950, as provided for in S. 17 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. On July 5, 1950, the Government of Uttar Pradesh, in exercise of the powers conferred by S. 3(b) of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, issued a notification directing the various sugar factories to pay bonus to their workmen for the year 1948-49 as well as to pay certain amounts as bonus for the year 1947-48. A further direction was made in the notification for payment of retaining allowance to the skilled seasonal workmen and clerical staff with effect from the off season in the year 1950. Thereupon the Indian Sugar Millers Association, which is an Association of sugar factories in India and is registered under the Trade Union Act made a petition before the High Court at Allahabad under Art. 226 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ against the Government of Uttar Pradesh prohibiting the Government from enforcing the notification. The writ petition was dismissed by the High Court on September 14, 1950, on the ground that the Association had no legal interest in the matter. Thereupon various sugar mills preferred separate writ petitions before the High Court, the respondents before us being one of them. As many as fourteen grounds were taken on their behalf in their writ petition. We are, however, concerned with only three of them to which Mr. G. S. Pathak, who appears for the respondents confined his arguments. Before we refer to those grounds we would complete the narration of facts. The High Court of Allahabad allowed the writ petitions, in so far as the question of payment of bonus was concerned, though Sapru J., one of the judges constituting the Full Bench, expressed a doubt as to the correctness of the view that the order of the State Government as regards the payment of bonus was invalid. After the decision of the High Court, the State of Uttar Pradesh applied for a certificate under Art. 133(1)(b) and Art. 133(1)(c) of the Constitution. The High Court ha