The petitioners claiming to be the members of

Karnataka Union of Working Journalists are before this

Court praying for the following reliefs:

i)

Issue a Writ of Certiorari to quash the 3^rd

Respondent9s order vide bearing No.P & S/TUA/CR-

11/

2018-10

dated

25/01/2022

produced

at

Annexure-8F9 communicated to the 1^st Petitioner to

appoint the Election Officer as per his choice;

ii)

Issue Writ of Mandamus directing the

Respondents No.1 and 2 to conduct the election of

the Petitioners Union name called 8Karnataka Union

4

of Working Journalist (R)9 in accordance with law by

amending the Bye-Laws wherever necessary;

iii)

Issue

a

Direction

to

remove

the

unregistered

name

of

8Karnataka

Karyaniratha

Patrakarthara

Sangha9

from

all

its

Office,

correspondences, Logos, Banners, Letter heads etc.,

as

the

information

rightly

given

by

the

4^th

Respondent

bearing

No.SaKaAa-3/MaHaKa/CR-

46/2021-22, Bengaluru dated 02.02.2022 produced

at Annexure-H.

2.

Heard Shri Harish Ganapathy, learned Counsel

for the petitioners and Shri S.B.Mukkannappa, learned

Counsel appearing for Respondents No.1 and 2 and Shri M

Vinod Kumar, learned Additional Government Advocate

appearing for Respondents No.3 and 4.

3.

The learned counsel for the petitioners submits

that Respondent No.2 had issued Calendar of Events to

conduct Election to the Second Respondent Association

wherein Respondents No.5 and 6 were nominated as

Returning Officers to conduct the Election.

5

4.

The learned counsel for the petitioners by relying

upon Rule 4(2)(a) of the Karnataka Trade Unions Election

(Model) Rules, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as 8the Rules of

19539, for short) contends that the Commissioner of Labour

or his nominee shall be the Returning Officer for conducting

Elections of the Union whose membership exceeds 2,000. It

is submitted that the second Respondent/Association has

more than 2,000 members and the Commissioner of Labour

or his nominee has to be appointed as the Returning

Officers and not Respondent Nos.5 and 6. Therefore, he

submits that the impugned communication at Annexure-F

dated

25.01.2022

issued

by

the

third

Respondent-

Commissioner permitting nominating Senior Journalists as

the Returning Officers is opposed to Rule 4(2) (a) of the

Rules of 1953 and exceeds the power vested in the

Commissioner, Labour Department. Further, the learned

counsel for the petitioners contends that the Association

itself is not registered and could not have conducted the

Election. For an un-registered Sangha, the Respondents

6

could not call for Election. It is his submission that the

Karnataka Union of Working Journalists is registered under

the Trade Union Regulations and not the Karnataka

Karyaniratha Pathrakarthara Sangha. Further, learned

counsel for the petitioners contends that the word

<nominee= used in Rule 4(2) (a) of the Rules of 1953 would

mean that the Labour Commissioner is empowered to

nominate any of his sub-ordinates as Returning Officers to

conduct the Election and not the members of the

Association or Trade Union could be appointed as Returning

Officers. Thus, he prays for allowing the writ petition.

5.

Per

contra,

learned

counsel

appearing

for

Respondents

No.1

and

submits

that

the

second

respondent is a registered Union and in that regard, he has

produced Certificate of Registration, Annexure-R1. Further,

he submits that subsequent alteration of the Bye-Laws of

the Karnataka Union of Working Journalists, Bengaluru were

also registered as per Certificate of Registration of

7

Alteration dated 28.12.1988 as per Annexure-R2. It is

further contended by the learned counsel that Rule 4(2)(a)

of the Rules of 1953 empowers the Labour Commissioner to

nominate the Returning Officers for conducting the Elections

for the Union. It is his submission that <nominee= means

not only sub-ordinate officials of the Labour Commissioner

but also he could nominate any of the members of the

Association according to the Bye-Laws of the concerned

Association or the Union. Further, the l