The Chief Justice.-This application is made by the Kandan Textiles Limited, for the issue of a writ of certiorari to call for the records in the matter of the industrial dispute between the workers and the management of the Kandan Textiles, Limited, before the Industrial. Tribunal I, Madras and the award therein, dated 23rd May, 1949 and to quash the same.

The applicant company is the proprietor of a small weaving mill located in Tiruvottiyur, Madras, employing 60 looms and about 200 workers. On 21st January, 1948, one R.M. Sundaram one of the workmen in the mill was dismissed by the management on the ground that he was responsible for the loss of a flexible shaft. He made attempts through the Labour Conciliation Officer to get himself re-instated but did not succeed in his attempt. On 23rd August, 1948, the boiler in the mills broke down and the mills were closed from 24th August, 1948, till nth October, 1948. On the intervention of the Labour Authorities, 14 days’ wages were paid to practically all the workers. On 12th October, 1948, the mill reopened. Most of the workmen who had been working in the mill on the date of the closure were taken in, but 48 of them were left out. The mills were not working at their full strength of three shifts. On 28th October, 1948, the management put up a notice of having a third shift on and from 3rd November, 1948. On 13th November, 1948, 21 of the workers who had been left out resumed duty. They were asked by the manager of the mills to work on looms other than those which had been allotted to them prior to the closure of the mills, but they declined to do so, and thereupon the manager asked them to leave the mills. A notice was put up at the mills informing the workers that their services were dispensed with as they had refused to accept the allocation of looms made by the manager. On 20th November, 1948, seven more workers of whom one was a jobber and the rest were weavers were called back to duty and new looms were allotted to the six weavers. They too declined to work on the new looms and were dismissed. Six of the weavers who had been in service of the mills before the boiler broke down were not called back at all. Two of the workmen who had been jobbers before the closure were entertained again not as jobbers but only as weavers.

There are in existence two rival unions of the workmen of the mills. The Kandan Textiles Labour Union, evidently sponsored by the management, was formed in June, 1947 and it is common ground that the majority of the workmen are members of this union. On 17th March, 1948, this union made an application for registration under the Trade Union Act, but for reasons which need not be discussed here it was registered only on 24th December, 1948. The other union is the Kandan Weaving Workers’ Union. An application for the registration of this union was made on 7th October, 1948. long after the application for registration made by the first union, but it was registered on 18th October, 1948.

It may be mentioned that Sundaram who had been dismissed in January, 1948, purports to be its secretary, and one Sreenivasan who is not a workman of the mills, its president. As regards this latter union, the Tribunal has found that it is not known when exactly it was formed and no particulars of its membership or of the election of the office bearers are available. The Tribunal was of the opinion that its members are fewer than that of the other union. The capacity of this union to represent the general body of workers or any section of the workmen was questioned by the applicant before the Tribunal.

The president of the union appears to have been addressing letters to the Commissioner of Labour from time to time, but it was admitted by its counsel appearing before us that the union never addressed any communication to the management complaining against any action on their part. On 4th December, 1948, the president of this union addressed a letter to the Secretary to the Governm