JUDGMENT :

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and with the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties, heard finally.

2. By this Petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner takes exception to an order on an application for interim relief (Exhibit-U-6) in Reference (IC) No. 07 of 2020, passed by the learned Member Industrial Court at Kolhapur dated 20th July, 2022, whereby the petitioner has been directed to give 10% rise in the salary per month to each employee in every category of employees from the date of the application till the disposal of the Reference.

3. Shorn of unnecessary details, the background facts can be stated as under :-

(a) The petitioner is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and is engaged in the business of manufacturing of cotton yarn and home fabrics. The petitioner runs spinning mills i.e. Mill A and Mill B at MIDC Gokul, Shirgaon, Kolhapur. Shahu Sooth Kapad Kamgar Sangh, the respondent, is a trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1923. It claims to be the Representative and Approved union for the local area of Karveer Taluka in Kolhapur District for cotton textile industries under the provisions of Maharashtra Industrial Relations Act, 1946 (“ MIR 1946”). It also claims to represent all the employees employed in petitioner’s spinning Mill.

(b) The respondent issued a notice of change dated 18th December, 2018 under Section 42 of the MIR Act, 1946, and raised various demands including upward revision in wage rates. Conciliation proceedings before the Conciliator failed. Respondent obtained the certificate of failure from the Conciliator. Eventually, respondent-first party approached the Industrial Court at Kolhapur for adjudication of the Industrial Dispute being Reference (IC) No. 7 of 2020.

(c) In the said Reference, the respondent filed an application for interim relief. It was the case of the respondent that the petitioner-second party introduced modern machines. Resultantly, there has been increase in the workload but reciprocal benefits were not being extended to the workmen. The last settlement had expired in the year 2018. There has been a steep increase in the cost of living since the last settlement. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the workmen to survive on the unrevised wages. Since the disposal of the Reference would take time, the respondent- first party prayed for an interim relief by way of a rise of Rs.6,000/- per month to each of the workmen during the pendency of the Reference.

(d) The petitioner-second party resisted the Reference and the prayers in the interim application. The tenability of the Reference, at the instance of the Secretary of Shahu Sooth Kapad Kamgar Sangh, was called in question. It was contended that the petitioner- second party was facing severe financial crunch and had been suffering huge losses in the preceding four financial years. The situation of the spinning Mills was precarious and they were struggling to survive. ‘B’ Unit of the spinning division, to which the Reference pertains, had suffered huge losses. The respondent No. 1- first party had resorted to unfair labour practices putting further strain on the smooth and profitable management of the spinning Mills. According to the petitioner, the wages of workmen had already been increased by Rs.2,498/- on account of increase in dearness allowance and the wages paid by the petitioner were higher than the wages paid by the other spinning mills in the region. On these, amongst other, grounds, including the unsustainability of the prayer at an interim stage, the petitioner prayed for dismissal of the application.

(e) The learned Member Industrial Court after appraisal of the pleadings and material tendered for his perusal and the submissions canvassed before him, was persuaded to partly allow the application for interim relief and direct the