Since common questions arise for consideration in these writ petitions, they are disposed of by this common judgment.

The status of the parties and the documents produced will be as obtaining in W.P.(C) No.13978 of 2023, unless specifically mentioned.

2. The petitioners in these writ petitions are headload workers employed in shops located at Agricultural Urban Wholesale Market, Maradu (for short, 'Wholesale Market').

The Wholesale Market was established pursuant to an agreement entered into by the European Economic Communities (E.E.C) and the Republic of India on 30.03.1989, aimed at establishing agricultural markets in Kerala with grant from E.E.C. The Wholesale Market is administered by Urban Wholesale Market Authority constituted by the Government of Kerala and the District Collector, Ernakulam is the Chairman of the Authority. The stalls in the Wholesale Market were allocated to traders on tender cum auction basis. There are 137 stalls and several traders in the Wholesale Market. The 1st respondent, the Assistant Labour Officer, is the registering authority of headload workers under the Kerala Headload Workers Rules, 1981 (for short, ‘the Rules’) and the 9th respondent District Labour Officer is the appellate authority. Respondents 2 to 4 are authorities under the Kerala Headload Workers' Welfare Fund Board. The 5th respondent is an association of traders and respondents 6 to 8 are traders, in the Wholesale Market.

The additional 10th respondent is the pool leader of pool No. 10, Nettoor area, Maradu Municipality, who got himself impleaded in the writ petitions.

3. The petitioners state that they are employed as headload workers by the traders in their respective stalls in the Wholesale Market. As per G.O (Rt.) No.1249/2003/LBR issued under Section 5 of the Kerala Loading and Unloading (Regulation of Wages and Restriction of Unlawful Practices) Act, 2002 (since repealed by Kerala Headload Workers (Amendment) Act, 2008), the traders in the market were exempted from the obligation to provide work to unattached registered headload workers. Section 5 of the repealed Act, 2002 provides as follows:-

“5. Employment of workers for non-domestic purposes.- Notwithstanding anything contained in the Kerala Head Load Workers Act, 1978 (Act 20 of 1980) or the schemes made thereunder, an employer shall have the right to carry out loading and unloading work for non-domestic purposes either by himself or by employing the workers of his own choice in any industrial park, export processing zone, industrial or commercial area, tourism project area, agricultural market as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare as such from time to time.”

Even after the repeal of the Kerala Loading and Unloading (Regulation of Wages and Restriction of Unlawful Practices) Act, the traders in the Wholesale Market continued to employ their attached headload workers. However, demands were later advanced by unattached registered headload workers, known as pool workers, for employment in the business of traders in the Wholesale Market. This led to litigations at the instance of the 5th respondent Association and the trade unions of pool workers employed by the Kerala Headload Workers Welfare Fund Board. In the said circumstances, the petitioners decided to get themselves registered as headload workers under Rule 26A of the Rules. Accordingly, they submitted individual applications for registration in Form IX to the 1st respondent. Exts. P1 to P125 in W.P.(C) No.13978 of 2023 and Exts. P1 to P31 in W.P.(C) No.13067 of 2023 are the copies of the Form IX applications.

4. Non-consideration of Exts. P1 to P125 applications for registration constrained the petitioners in W.P.(C) No.13978 of 2023 to file W.P.(C) No.37246 of 2022 before this Court for direction to the 1st respondent to consider and pass orders on the applications expeditiously and to permit them to work till the applications are considered. This Court, by Ext. P126 judgment, d