' The present petition under section 38(5), Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969 has been moved by Imdad Awan, claiming to be President of the Crescent Textile Mills Workers Union, Faisalabad, against the Registrar of Trade Unions, Faisalabad Region, Faisalabad, making a prayet that the respondent be summoned along with the requisite record and that proceedings be taken against him for defying the authority of this Tribunal and committing contempt of Court. The respondent was also required to be restrained from taking any further proceedings in the matter.
2. This Tribunal entertained the petition on 25-2-1997, and ordered the Registrar to take no further action. One Haji Muhammad Munir, however, applied to this Court, on the following day, i,e, 26-2- 1997, and made a request that he be impleaded as a co-respondent, and the order dated 25-2- 1997 be recalled. Learned counsel for the petitioner formally opposed Haji Muhammad Munir's application but then signified his willingness to allow him (Haji Muhammad Munir) 'to address the Court, as he had been displaying immense interest and contest in the matter and had taken up the plea that Imdad Awan had actually lost all support and had been acting at the behest of the mill management/proprietorship against the interests of the working class, and still was clinging to the office,, and not allowing fresh elections of the office-bearers of the union to be held and this all was being done in a mala fide manner. Haji Muhammad Munir said that he was the candidate for the office of the President of the Union and his Group was leading.
3. Actually, this Tribunal had, earlier, on 11-12-1996, rendered an order to the effect that internal election of the trade union operating in the set-up would be held by 15-1-1997, and determination of the C.B.A. Through referendum would also be taken in hand without any loss of time by 7-2-1997, at the latest, under direct supervision of the Registrar, to be exercised in true spirit. A perusal of the decision dated 11-12-1996 of this Court would reveal that Imdad Awan had expressed agreeability or readiness for participation in the new election, although he had also made a prayer that till new election was held, he must not be prevented from holding the office of President of the Union and acting accordingly.
4. It appears that Imdad Awan is leaving no stone unturned in obstructing the new election, that was due in January, 1997, this Court having fixed a particular date, i,e, 15-1-1997, for the purpose. The last election was held in February, 1995, and the referendum also was due in the same year.
5. Haji Munir Group claims having approached the Registrar, with an application submitted on 1-1- 1997. The Registrar called a meeting of the two groups on 8-1-1997, both sides participated, and 15- 1-1997 was fixed as the date for the new election. Nomination papers had to be submitted and scrutiny thereof had to be completed on 12-1-1997. A third group, purportedly led by Muhammad Ashraf, Muhammad Ramzan, etc. Is also said to have been put up for contest by Imdad Awan, on 12-1-1997. Mr. Muhammad Zafar Abbas Sabzwari, Civil Judge, Faisalabad was unsuccessfully approached for grant of a stay order on 14-1-1997. Election exercise was undertaken for a couple of hours on 15-1-1997. Ashraf and Ramzan, on 15-1-1997, filed another suit in the Court of Ch. Ghulam Rasool, Civil Judge, Faisalabad, and obtained a stay order. Fact of stay having been refused, a day before, by another Civil Judge, Mr. Zafar Abbas Sabzwari was suppressed. The stay order issued by Ch. Ghulam Rasool, Civil Judge, was presented before the Registrar, who stayed the proceedings of the election, after the same had remained under-way for about two hours on 15-1-1997.
6. Haji Muhammad Munir states that he had given a list of about 20 candidates for the election dated 15-1-1997 and alleges that they had all been pressurized by the mill management with a demand for withdrawal of their candidature. They were transferred from one section to another, and on 27-1-1997 signatures of guile a few, out of them, were procured under duress, conveying their intention to withdraw from the arena of election. This, according to him, was' done, despite a stay order, issued by the Civil Court holding the field. When true facts were brought to the notice of Ch. Ghulam Rasool, Civil Judge, Faisalabad, he vacated the stay order on 17-2-1997. On the following day, i,e, 18-2-1997, Haji Muhammad Munir and other candidates met the Registrar and told him in writing that none from the panel had been dropped or had expressed his withdrawal from candidature, although the mill management had resorted to high-handedness. The Registrar called a meeting on 23-2-1997, and in that meeting the representatives of the two groups participated. Only three persons, Nasrullah, Saghir Ahmad and Tariq Masih expressed their reluctance to take part in the election, while all others were steadfast. With a view to further pressurize or coerce the members of the Munir Group, the mill people,. However, are alleged to have closed the main gate of the mill and disallowed these people to perform their duties, by divesting them of their Attendance Cards.
7. Although the Registrar fixed 27-2-1997 as the new date for the election, Imdad Awan, two days before that on 25-2-1997, came to this Tribunal and got a status quo order, by making an application for contempt of Court against the Registrar. The third pseudo group, led by Ashraf and Ramzan, is stated to have again got a stay order from Ch. Ghulam Rasool, Civil Judge, Faisalabad.
The mill management, according to Haji Munir, is adamant that Imdad Awan Group in entirety be declared as having been elected unopposed, as that Group of the Union will toe the line of the management and will operate as their 'pocket union'. Such a move was opposed by the Registrar, against whom contempt proceedings were initiated. Imdad Awan, who has been allowing no one else to be elected as President of the union, since 1995, has come to this Court with unclean hands, ulterior considerations and mala fide intentions, although he is an outsider.
8. Mr. Muhammad Zaman Qureshi, Advocate, representing Imdad Awan is of the view that the Registrar is evincing undue interest in the matter and is supporting Haji Muhammad Munir, although this Court had passed express orders on 14-12-1996, directing the Registrar to hold the election afresh impartially under his supervision. It is pointed out by Mr. Qureshi that one Rana Talib Hussain is heading yet another group. It has been pointed out to this Tribunal that when the Registrar had deleted or struck off the panel of Muhammad Ashraf Khan and that of Haji Muhammad Munii had also opted to withdraw, there remained in the field only one panel, that of Imdad Awan. And the same should have been declared as elected. Muhammad Ashraf Khan, it is submitted, had filed a civil suit, which was subsequently withdrawn, and thus, his panel became obsolete and was out of 'field'. Rana Talib Group also remained no longer interested in the election, leaving Imdad Awan as the only contestant.
9. I am afraid, I cannot see eye to eye with what has been said or maintained by Mr. Zaman Qureshi, Advocate, the reason being that Haji Muhammad Munir Group is very much active and they have not staged exit from the arena. It is not understood as to why is the mill management so much interested in obliterating or eliminating Haji Muhammad Munir and his panel. Although only two or three persons, belonging to that group, have given up their candidature, with or without the active interference of the mill management, large majority of people, akin to the said panel, are still very active in the field, and they are putting up grim contest, which the Registrar, and for that matter, the mill people are not unaware of. In all fairness, therefore, they should allow Haji Muhammad Munir's panel, as well, to take material part in the proceedings, and the election exercise should, by no means, be shelved or deferred.
10. It is also to be noted that Haji Muhammad Munir has also got a stay order issued in favor of his panel by the N.I.R.C. And the officers of the Labour Department have also been directed by the N.I.R.C. To be neutral in the matter. Imdad Awan, however, has been striving very hard and making frantic efforts, by approaching the labor Court at Faisalabad, or this Tribunal, to stick to his office, and not to allow the new election to take place. There is no doubt about it. Despite a status quo order holding the field, the mill management is not hesitating to serve their employees with notices about their ouster from service. The show-cause notices were replied by the affected employees, those belonging to Haji Muhammad Munir Group,-/but as stated by them, the mill people did not receive the same and services of a representative of the Labour Department had to be utilized for the purpose of forwarding the 'replies' to the mill management. They, viz. The mill people, have been shown 10 be actively siding with Imdad Awan and his group. Imdad Awan himself has never turned up in this Court, for pursuing these proceedings of criminal nature, and by reason of his absence from the proceedings, the same are also liable to dismissal. I, therefore, proceed to reject the move made by Imdad Awan, with a request for initiating contempt of Court proceedings against the Registrar of Trade Unions, Faisalabad. The petition under section 38(5), Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969, is hereby dismissed, with costs.
11. Before closing, I must make it clear that no revengeful action shall be taken by the mill people against members of Haji Muhammad Munir Group, finding mention in the interim order dated 7-3- 1997, and the Joint Director Labour, Faisalabad will remain vigilant in the matter, so that all the employees, including those belonging to Haji Muhammad Munir, are protected from any action of vengeance, which they have been or are proposed to be subjected to, by the mill management.