The transfer of employees was found to be within the rights of the management as per the terms and conditions of the appointment and the Memorandum of Settlement. The court emphasized the need for specific pleading and proof of malafides in such cases.

By this petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has impugned the order dated 20th February, 2016 passed by the Industrial Court, Thane rejecting the application filed under section 30(2) of the MRTU and PULP Act, 1971 (for short hereinafter referred to as the said ULP Act) inter alia praying for a direction to the respondents not to give effect to transfer order dated 19th December, 2015 of the employees and to allow them to resume their work with equitable relief. The said application for interim order was filed in a complaint filed by the petitioner under section 28 read with items 3, 9 and 10 of Schedule IV of the said ULP Act. Some of the relevant facts for the purpose of deciding this petition are as under :-

2. The petitioner is a trade union registered under the provisions of Trade Unions Act, 1926 and represents the large number of employees as its members in the respondent no.1 company. The employees of the respondent no.1 who are members of the petitioner union have made various demands for the benefit and facilities and improvement in the service conditions of members of the petitioner. Various proceedings have been filed by the petitioner union against the respondent no.1 and vis-a-versa in various courts against each other.

3. Sometime in the year 2009, the petitioner had filed a complaint of unfair labour practice being Complaint (ULP) No.256 of 2009 before the Industrial Court at Thane against the respondent no.1 and applied for interim relief. By an order dated 7th November, 2009, the Industrial Court directed the respondents to maintain status quo regarding the issue involved in the said complaint.

4. On or about 3rd December, 2010, the petitioner and the respondent entered into a settlement recording various terms and conditions as agreed between the parties. It is the case of the petitioner that inspite of such settlement, the respondents were always vindictive and started harassing the members of the petitioner union and had continuously committed unfair labour practice upon the members of the petitioner union who were employees of the respondent no.1. Several complaints were accordingly filed by the petitioner alleging unfair labour practice against the respondents which are pending. The petitioner decided to call for four days protest strike on two occasions and issued a strike notice. The petitioner thereafter filed a complaint (ULP) No.114 of 2014 before Industrial Court at Thane. The Industrial Court, Thane passed an order on 16th April, 2014 on the application for interim relief filed by the petitioner and restrained the respondents from recruiting any fresh hands in place of the striking workmen and not to remove plant machinery, raw material etc. The said order was confirmed by the Industrial Court by its judgment and order dated 1st August, 2014. The review application filed by the respondent no.1 against the said interim order came to be rejected.

5. It is the case of the petitioner that the respondent no.1 issued a notice on 2nd July, 2014 thereby suspending the operation restricted to 202 members of the petitioner union whose names were given in the list attached to the said notice.

6. The respondents by their further notice dated 5th July, 2014, declared a partial lockout effective from 20th July, 2014 restricting only to the members of the petitioner union.

7. On or about 18th July, 2014, the petitioner filed a complaint (ULP) No.194 of 2014 in the Industrial Court, Thane under item 6 of Schedule II and item 9 and 10 of Schedule IV of the said ULP Act alongwith an application for interim relief. By an order dated 24th July, 2014, the Industrial Court rejected the said application for interim relief.

8. On 29th July, 2014, the petitioner gave an undertaking to the respondents on behalf of 202 members that they shall work peacefully, give normal production with discipline and for restoration of normalcy as required by the 1st respondent. The peti