� The Tamil Nadu Non-Gazetted Government Officers� Union is a Services Association

which has been recognised by Government, and the membership of which is open,
according to Rule 7 of its constitution, to all Non-Gazetted Government Officers
employed under the Government of Madras except the Executive Officers of the Police
and Prisons Departments and the last grade Government servants. The objects of this
Association are set forth in Rule 4 of the Constitution, and it is seen that they
are beneficent and ameliorative in character, designed along the lines of promoting
the welfare of the members in multiple directions. The Association represented by
ten of its members applied on 23-12-1957 to the Registrar of Trade Unions, Madras,
for registration as a Trade Union, under section 5 of the Indian Trade Unions Act
(Act XVI of 1926). In a brief order, the Registrar rejected this application, in
which, after a reference to Secs. 2 (g) and 2 (h) of the Act, he held that such an
Association of ministerial employees of the Administrative Departments of offices
of the Government of Madras could not claim to be a Trade Union at all and was not
eligible for registration under the Act. Admittedly, against such an order
declining registration an appeal is provided for under section 11 of the Act and
this was duly preferred. The learned Judge who dealt with the proceeding (Rama
Chandra Iyer, J., as he them was) delivered a judgment in which he had occasion to
trade, in some detail, the history of the Trade Union movement in the United
Kingdom, in order to elucidate certain fundamental principles. This appeal is
before us as preferred by the Union and its secretary, from the order of the
learned Judge. (2) We shall set forth, a little subsequently, the relevant
definitions and provisions of the Indian Trade Unions Act, as well as certain
definitions in the Industrial Disputes Act XIV of 1947; though the learned Judge
was definitely of the view that these two enactments are not in pari materia and do
not together constitute any code or legislation it is at least indisputable that
sections of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, are also very relevant for purposes
of comparative analysis. But before doing this, it is essential for an appreciation
of the basic issues, to summarise the grounds upon which the learned Judge (Rama
Chandra Iyer, J.,) rejected the petition before him. After referring to the
definition of ?Trade Union? in section 2 (h) of the Trade Unions Act, the learned
Judge pointed out that a vital consideration would be the content or significance
of the word ?workmen? as occurring in section 2 (h) and he was of the view that
this word primarily signify only manual labourers or workers of that class. This
was one ground upon which the learned Judge ultimately concluded that civil
servants of the present Association could not be considered as workmen at all. Next
the learned Judge pointed out that the concept of ?collective bargaining?, which is
the rationale behind the Trade Union movement and the existence of the Trade Unions
was wholly inappropriate when applied to Government servants. This was all the more
so in this country where the civil service was not a mere tenure at the pleasure of
the Crown, as in the United Kingdom, but where constitutional safe-guards were
themselves the subject of elaborate statutory rules. The Indian Trade Unions Act
contemplated not merely collective bargaining, but also the permeation of the Trade
Union by outside influences to a certain extent (Secs. 21 and 22) and definite
participation in politics (Sec. 16). These were elements that had to be totally
eschewed, in the public interest itself, with regard to the civil services.