The duty imposed by Sec.33 of the Industrial Disputes Act is a duty owed to the public and not to the particular employee prejudicially affected.

Ramaswami, J.

1. In this case, the petitioners have obtained a rule calling upon the respondents to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not be issued for quashing the order of the respondent No. 2 dated 7-1-1953, transferring petitioner No. 1 Sri Vinaya Nath Narain Sinha to Calcutta to work as a correspondent of the "Searchlight". Cause was shown by Mr. Baldeva Sahay on behalf of the respondents.

2. Petitioner No. 1, Sri Vinaya Nath, Narain Sinha, is a senior Assistant Editor of the "Searchlight", a newspaper printed and published at Patna. He alleges that on 30-3-1953, Sri Parasnath Sinha, Managing Director of the Bihar Journals Ltd., ordered his transfer to Calcutta to work in the capacity of the correspondent of the newspaper. The order was that petitioner No. 1 should join at Calcutta on 6-4-1953, but subsequently the date of joining was extended up to 13-4-1953.

Petitioner No. 1 alleges that he had been elected as the Vice President of the Bihar Journalists Union, and the respondents were opposed to his inking any part in the activities of that particular trade union. Petitioner no. 1 alleges that the order of his transfer to Calcutta was an act of victimisation on the part of the respondents. On 1-1-1953, petitioner No. 1 and petitioner No. 2, Sri Shri Krishna Datta Bhatt, who is the Secretary of the Bihar Journalists Union, applied to the Labour Commissioner of Patna seeking his intervention in the matter. On 3-4-1953, Sri R.N. Sharma, Conciliation Officer and Assistant Commissioner of Labour, started conciliation proceedings. He wrote to the respondents asking them to stay the order transferring petitioner No. 1 to Calcutta and fixed 8-4-1953 for hearing the matter.

In reply to the letter of the Conciliation Officer, the respondents asserted that the Conciliation Officer had no jurisdiction to start proceedings. The contention of the respondents was that there was no industrial dispute, and petitioner No. 1 Sri Vinaya Nath Narsin Sinha was not a workman within the meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act, On 7-4-1953, respondent No. 2 Sri Parasnath Singh made a peremptory order that the petitioner No. 1 should comply with his previous order dated 30-3-1953 and join the post of the correspondent at Calcutta. The petitioners assert that in making this order the opposite party committed a breach of Sec.33 of the Industrial Disputes Act which states that "during the pendency of any conciliation proceedings before a Tribunal in respect of any industrial dispute, no employer shall alter, to the prejudice of the workmen concerned in such dispute, the conditions of service applicable to them immediately before the commencement of such proceedings".

The petitioners, therefore, pray that a writ in the nature of mandamus should be issued to the respondents for quashing the order of transfer made on 30-3-1953 and reiterated on 3-1-1953.

3. In their counter-affidavit the respondents submit that the order of transfer was made for the sake of administrative convenience and there was no question of any victimisation of the petitioner. The respondents further object that neither the labour Commissioner nor the Conciliation Officer had any jurisdiction to interfere in the dispute. It is stated in the counter-affidavit that the petitioner is neither a manual workman nor a member of the clerical staff. He is, on the contrary, the senior Assistant Editor of the newspaper and his case fell outside the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act. The respondents contend that Sec.33 of the Industrial Disputes Act has no application to the case.

4. The first question in this case is, therefore, whether Sec.33, Industrial Disputes Act ap-plies to this case. Sec.33 states:

"During the pendency of any conciliation proceedings or proceedings before a Tribunal in respect of any industrial dispute, no employer shall--(a) alter, to the prejudice of the workmen concerned in such dispute, the conditions of service applicable to them immediately b