( 1 ) BY filing this petition, the petitioner-Union, has prayed for necessary direction against respondents 1 and 2 for carrying out the verification of the members of the Unions for the purpose of determining the membership of the concerned Unions. The petitioner has also prayed that the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), respondent No. 6 herein, be directed to conduct fresh verification process through secret ballot for verifying the membership of the petitioner and respondent Nos. 3 to 5 Unions.

( 2 ) THE petitioner is a Trade Union registered under the provisions of the Trade Unions Act. As per the averments made in paragraph 1 of the petition, the members of the petitioner-Union are spread over the entire region, i. e. Ankleshwar, Vadodara, Khambhat, Ahmedabad and Mehsana and that the strength of the workers in Ahmedabad is 1500 and out of that, 1000 workers are the members of the petitioner-Union. It is also further averred in the said petition that in Ankleshwar, there are 1700 workers, out of which 1200 workers are members of the petitioner-Union. So far as Vadodara is concerned, there are 350 workers, out of which 100 workers are members of the petitioner-Union and in Mehsana, there are 1500 workers, out of which 700 workers are members of the petitioner-Union. It is further averred in the petition that so far as respondents 3, 4 and 5 are concerned, they are also Trade Unions and the ONGC has given recognition to them. The respondent No. 1-ONGC is giving certain benefits to the Unions recognised by it, such as inviting the representatives of such recognised Unions in the matter of taking policy decisions, providing facilities of transportation, office, installation of telephones, giving telephone facility at the residences of the office bearers of the Union, etc. and it seems that some privileges are given to the office bearers of such recognised Union. It is averred in paragraph 3 of the petition that even though the petitioner-Union has requested the ONGC to give recognition to it, the same was not given and the office bearers of the petitioner-Union are not called for any negotiations while taking policy decision nor have they given any such facilities, which are given to the Office Bearers of the recognised Unions.

( 3 ) THE grievance of the petitioner-Union is that even though the petitioner-Union is having larger membership and even though the three respondent-Unions are actually in minority, they are still enjoying the status of recognised Unions at the hands of ONGC. The say of the petitioner-Union is that the process of verification of the membership of the Union had not taken place since long and lastly, the said verification was carried out as back as in the year 1978. If proper verification is carried out, the petitioner-Union can prove the strength of its members. It is also averred in the petition that the ONGC is deliberately sheltering the minority Unions in taking policy decision concerning the service conditions of the workmen and the consultation is made only with the Office Bearers of the aforesaid Unions, even though the petitioner-Union is having more membership as compared to the aforeaid minority Unions. It is also the say of the petitioner that if any proper verification is carried out, the fact about the membership will become clear. It is also the say of the petitioner-Union that the petitioner is having sufficient membership to get recognition as per the policy of the ONGC. In paragraph 12 of the petition, it is averred that the ONGC did not want the presence of the petitioner-Union in deciding the policy matters, and, therefore, in spite of the fact that the petitioner-Union is fulfilling the conditions laid down in the policy for recognition, the same was not granted to the petitioner-Union. The above-said action on the part of the ONGC in not verifying the membership since last 23 years is arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution of