W.P. No. 1940 of 1956. This is a petition for the issue of a writ of certiorari to quash the award of the Chairman, Central Government Industrial Tribunal, Madras. It is necessary to state a few facts to understand the point raised. One Shanmugha Motor Service, Tiruchirapalli, was being conducted by one A. SM. Kandaswami who was carrying on business as a motor transport operator. This concern had 10 buses and 2 spare buses and was employing a number of workmen stated to be about 55. There was a dispute between this concern and the workers in respect of the payment of bonus for the years 1949 to 1951 and also as regards the terms of service of some drivers and conductors employed by this establishment. The matter in dispute was referred by the Local Government to an Industrial Tribunal for adjudication, and the Tribunal passed an award on 3rd May, 1952, which was published in the Fort. St, George Gazette on 28th May, 1953. The award was substantially in favour of the workmen, granting most of the reliefs prayed for by them. From this award the Management filed an appeal to the Labour Appellate Tribunal, A.S. No. 228 of 1953. The Appellate Tribunal modified in some respects the award as regards bonus, but otherwise confirmed that of the Industrial Tribunal.

Pending the adjudication of the appeal by the Labour Appellate Tribunal, there were certain disputes which arose between the Management and the workmen. This consisted of the transfer by the Shanmugha Motor Service of their buses to three parties, one of whom is the petitioner here and another the petitioner in W.P. No. 960 of 1956. Four of the buses were transferred to the petitioner while the other six and the spare buses were transferred to the other two parties. The transfer of these buses was in May, 1952. The workers, when they came to know of the transfer of these buses, appeared before the Transport Authority and resisted the application for the transfer of the route permits in relation to these buses. The Transport Authority, however, overruled these objections, and by an order made in June, 1952, allowed the transfer. The transferees have been working the buses on these transferred permits ever since.

Besides this, the workers also filed an application before the Labour Appellate Tribunal, invoking their jurisdiction under section 22 of the Labour Appellate Tribunal Act, and complaining of a violation of section 22 of that Act. That complaint would have meaning only if the conditions of service of the employees had been adversely affected by some action of the employer . The case put forward by the workmen before the Tribunal was that this transfer effected in favour of the petitioner and the two other co-transferees constituted a change in the conditions of service. This application was transferred by the Labour Appellate Tribunal under section 23-A of the Act to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal, Madras, for adjudication. The Tribunal conducted an enquiry and passed an award on 16th July, 1956, under which they directed the Management of the three transferees to pay compensation to ten of the workers who filed the complaint before the Labour Appellate Tribunal.

I have mentioned the fact that the labour force employed by the Shanmugha Motor Service consisted of about 55 workmen. Subsequent to transfer, the workers approached the Labour Officer and requested his services to effect a conciliation between themselves and the transferees. The workers at that stage appear to have been represented by two Unions, one Union represented 38 workers and the other 12. The Labour Officer suggested certain terms which were accepted by the transferees and by the Union composed of the 38 workmen, and these workmen were absorbed by the three transferees. The Union which represented the 12 workmen, however, would not accept the terms suggested by the Conciliation Officer, and it was this Union that preferred the complaint to the Labour Appellate Tribunal which has resulted