An appeal under Section 11 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 is maintainable only against refusal of registration or cancellation of registration, not against a refusal to cancel.

Order :

(Sanjay S. Agrawal, J.)

1. By virtue of this petition, the petitioners are questioning the legality and propriety of the order dated 18.01.20=9, whereby, the learned Member Judge, State Industrial Court, Bench at Bilaspur (CG) in Case No.02/ITU Act/I/2018, has partly allowed the appeal (Annexure P/15) preferred by Respondent No.1- Bhagwat Prasad Dubey under Section 11(aa) of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act, 1926”) by setting aside the order dated 24.03.2018 (Annexure P-14) passed by Respondent No.2- The Registrar, Trade Union, Chhattisgarh, Raipur, by remanding the matter to the said authority for adjudication of the case afresh.

2. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that the two registered Trade Unions known as ‘Rashtriya Colliery Workers Federation’ (for short “RCWF”) and ‘Rashtriya Koyala Khadan Mazdoor Sangh’ (for short “RKKMS”) through its Managing Directors, have submitted an application (Annexure P/2) on 27.08.2003 before the Registrar, Trade Union, Chhattisgarh, Raipur as per the provisions prescribed under Sections 24 and 25 of the Act, 1926 for amalgamation of the said Unions to that of ‘Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Congress’ (for short “RCMC”). The Registrar, Trade Union, after considering the said application, has allowed the same and the name of the Union, Registered as “Rashtriya Colliery Worker Federation” has been changed as “Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Congress” vide its order dated 29.08.2003 (Annexure P/3).

3. The aforesaid order as passed by the said authority was questioned by Respondent No.1- Bhagwat Prasad Dubey and RCWF before this Court, which was Registered as WP.No.3393/2005 (Annexure P/4) and vide order dated 12.10.2017 (Annexure P/5), a direction was issued for re-consideration of the said order dated 29.08.2003 after affording opportunity to all the affected parties. In pursuance to the directions as was issued by this Court on 12.10.2017 (Annexure P/5), the Registrar, Trade Union, vide its order (Annexure P/14) dated 24.03.2018, has rejected the said application for re- consideration of the said order dated 29.08.2003, whereby, a certificate of registration was granted in the name of the petitioners’ Union, namely, RCMC.

4. The aforesaid order (Annexure P/14) passed by the Registrar, Trade Union, refusing to cancel the certificate of registration dated 29.08.2003, was questioned in appeal by Respondent No.1 as per the provisions prescribed under Section 11 (aa) of the Act, 1926 before the Member Judge, State Industrial Court, Bench at Bilaspur, and vide order dated 03.05.2018 (Annexure P/16), it was admitted for its hearing and notice was directed to be issued, and after receiving the said notice, the alleged order, passed on 03.05.2018, was questioned by the petitioners’ Union- RCMC before this Court regarding the maintainability of the said appeal, where it was registered as Writ Petition (C) No.1640/2018 and vide order dated 19.06.2018 (Annexure P/18), a liberty was granted to the petitioners’ Union to make an application before the said Court regarding the maintainability of the said appeal, which was preferred by Respondent No.1 before the Member Judge, State Industrial Court, Bench at Bilaspur.

5. The aforesaid appeal, preferred by Respondent No.1, was allowed in part by the Industrial Court vide its order impugned dated 18.01.2017 and the matter was remanded to the Registrar, Trade Union, while setting aside the order dated 24.03.2018 (Annexure P/14) passed by the said authority, i.e. the Registrar, Trade Union, who had refused to cancel the certificate of registration of the petitioners’ Union, granted on 29.08.2003, with a direction to decide the same afresh.

6. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners while referring to the provisions prescribed under Section 11 of the Act, 1926, submits that since the Registrar, Trade Union has refused to cancel the certificate of registration passed on 29.08.2003, in the name of petitioners’ Union, therefore,