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Karbhari and Others v. Deepak V. Chengede and Others

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 834Decided 30 Jul 2019
Civil Appeal No. 5936 of 2019
Justice Uday Umesh Lalit · Justice Vineet Saran

Background

A sugar-workers' union (the Sabha) in Maharashtra was set to hold internal elections for its Managing Committee. The Election Officer introduced unit-wise electoral colleges for the posts of Vice-President and Secretary, plus a reservation of eight seats for women: none of which were provided for in the Sabha's own registered Constitution. Some members challenged this before the Industrial Court, which quashed the election programme for departing from the Constitution, and the High Court upheld that decision. The appellants, who favoured the extra representation scheme, appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, agreeing with the Industrial Court and High Court that an election programme for a registered trade union must strictly conform to its own Constitution. Even though the appellants argued that unit-wise representation and women's reservation were well-intentioned and not expressly prohibited, the Court held that an Election Officer cannot invent eligibility or reservation rules that have no basis in the union's governing document, however laudable the underlying goal.

Lesson Learnt

Internal elections of a registered union or society must follow the procedure laid down in its own constitution or rules; good intentions do not permit election authorities to add requirements, like quotas or special constituencies, that the governing document does not itself provide for.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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