The legal personality of a cooperative society and the scope of disputes covered by specific Acts must be carefully considered in industrial dispute cases.

M.S. Menon, C.J.

1. This is a petition by the Kerala State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Limited under Art.226 and 227 of the Constitution. The 1st respondent is the State of Kerala; the 2nd, the Industrial Tribunal, Trivandrum ; and the 3rd, the Secretary of the Travancore Sreemoolam Handloom Weavers' Central Cooperative Society Staff Association, Trivandrum.

2. By Ext. P. 1 dated 31-8-1960 the Government of Kerala referred the following matters for adjudication to the 2nd respondent under S.10(1)(d) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 :

"1. The question of pay scales and D. A.

2. Bonus.

3. Promotion according to seniority.

4. Abolition of commission system and restoration of D. A. instead.

5. House Rent Allowance."

Ext. P. 2 dated 28-12-1961 is the award of the 2nd respondent. It was published in the Kerala Gazette dated 30-1-1962. The petition challenges the validity of Ext. P. 2 and prays for a writ of certiorari quashing the said award.

3. The Kerala State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Limited is an amalgamated society incorporated in pursuance of the Kerala State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society (Special Provisions) Act, 1960. One of the amalgamating units was the Travancore Sreemoolam Handloom Weavers' Central Cooperative Society Limited.

4. The first contention of the petitioner is that there can be no industrial dispute between the Kerala State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Limited and its workmen as all those workmen are shareholders of the society. The contention ignores the fact that a cooperative society is not a mere aggregate of its members; that it has a legal personality, separate and distinct from that of its shareholders. S.24 of the Travancore - Cochin Cooperative Societies Act, 1951, specifically provides that the registration of a society under that Act "shall render it a body corporate by the name under which it is registered with perpetual succession and a common seal, and with power to hold property, to enter into contracts, to institute and defend suits and other legal proceedings and to do all things necessary for the purposes for which it was constituted."

5. The second contention urged on behalf of the petitioner is that the workmen concerned were the workmen of the Travancore Sreemoolam Handloom Weavers' Central Cooperative Society Limited, that the industrial dispute referred for adjudication by the Government by its order dated 31-8-1960 was a dispute between that society and its workmen, and that the Industrial Tribunal was wrong in passing an award against another society, namely, the Kerala State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society Limited. This contention ignores the effect of the amalgamation effected in pursuance of the Kerala State Handloom Weavers' Cooperative Society (Special Provisions) Act, 1960, subsequent to the reference for adjudication; and S.18 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which provides that the award of a Tribunal shall be binding not only on all parties to the industrial dispute but also on all other parties summoned to appear in the proceedings as parties to the dispute, unless the Tribunal records the opinion that they were so summoned without proper cause. It is conceded that the petitioner was summoned by the Tribunal to appear in the proceedings as a party to the dispute, and that the Tribunal has not recorded any opinion to the effect that it was summoned without proper cause.

6. The third and the last contention urged on behalf of the petitioner is that S.60(1) of the Travancore - Cochin Cooperative Societies Act, 1951, precludes a reference to adjudication under S.10 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. S.60(1) reads as follows :

"If any dispute touching the business of a registered society (other than a dispute regarding disciplinary action taken by the society or its committee against a paid servant of the Society) arises --

(a) among members, past members and persons claiming through members, past members and deceased members, or