The main legal point established is that an industrial establishment covered by the Standing Orders Act must comply with its provisions, and declaratory relief can be granted under Article 226 of the Constitution.

( 1 ) THE petitioner, Karnataka Agro Industries Corporation Employees' Association, is a trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and it is the representative union of the employees of the third respondent-Corporation. It is not in dispute that the third respondent is a government company registered under the Companies Act, 1956. The petitioner has sought for a writ in the nature of mandamus to the State Government, the first respondent herein, to grant the necessary sanction for prosecuting the third respondent-Corporation under Section 13 (3) of the industrial Employment Standing Orders Act, 1946 (in short, the 'standing Orders Act, 1946) and for a further direction to third respondent not to enforce Service Rules as they exist now covering the service condition of its employee.

( 2 ) THE learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that though the third respondent-Corporation came into existence some time in 1967 and had been employing more than 100 workmen, it had never drafted any standing orders as contemplated under Section 3 of the Standing Orders Act and in spite of the petitioner's demands from time to time, the Corporation had been taking the stand that the Service Rules introduced by it unilaterally should be made applicable to its employees and that it was not obligatory to have any certified standing orders since it was not an establishment covered by the provisions of the Act.

( 3 ) ON the third respondent's own assertion, it has five workshops registered under the Factories act, 1948, in various parts of the State. Its administrative office is situated in Hebbal and it has also a work-shop attached to it. However, the learned counsel for the third respondent maintained that since the persons working in the establishment out-numbered the persons working in the workshop, the Corporation as a whole could not be brought under the provisions of the Standing Orders Act. His contention is that the third respondent is not an industrial establishment within the meaning of Section 2 (e) of the Standing Orders Act as an industrial establishment under that provision could be either a factory as defined under the Factories Act, or an establishment as defined in Section 2 of the Payment of Wages Act, but a major part of respondent three does not come under either of these definitions.

( 4 ) UNDER the definition of the term 'industrial establishment' in Section 2 (e) of the Standing orders Act, a factory is an industrial establishment and if it employs more than 100 persons, it is covered by the Act. Admittedly, the third respondent's establishment consists of five workshops which are registered under the Factories Act. These workshops employ more than 100 workmen. Further, under the relevant portion of the definition of the term 'industrial establishment' under section 2 of the Payment of Wages Act, an industrial establishment means a workshop or other establishment in which articles are produced, adapted or manufactured with a view to their use, transport or sale. Any dispute or doubt about the nature of the industrial activities performed by the third respondent-Corporation, is removed by its own document which is produced by the learned counsel for the petitioner in this Court. The third respondent had brought out a report on the service done by it to farmers of the State for period 1967 and 1977. In that report, at para 17, a reference is made to the activities of the Central Workshop, Hebbal, in the following words :-

"the workshop is well organised with different sections like foundry, engine repairs, fabrication, welding, smithy, carpentry etc. During 1974, the workshop became the production workshop and started manufacturing of agricultural implements, tractors, tractorhoods etc. " therefore, the workshops under the ownership and management of the third respondent-Corporation are industrial establishments which, in turn, are covered by Section 2 (e) of the Standing Orders Act. However, the learned

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