Lakhimpur District Section Divisional N F Railway Freight Truck Union Harmoti Junction v. The Union of India and 10 Ors

ORDER Date : 06-11-2024 Heard Mr. B.K. Das, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. D.J. Das, learned Central Government Counsel for the respondent nos. 1, 2, 3 & 4; and Ms. S. Baruah, learned Junior Government Advocate, Assam for the respondent no. 5.

¶2The petitioner is a trade union, registered under the Trade Union Act, 1926, and its members are involved in the business of supplying trucks for loading and unloading of goods in cargo trains and B freight train at Harmoti Junction. The grievance of the petitioner union is that the private respondent nos. 6 – 11 have been adopting different means to prevent the members of the petitioner union in the business of loading and unloading of goods at Harmoti Junction. Because of the harassments, several representations were filed by the petitioner union before the authorities including the District Commissioner, Lakhimpur; and the Superintendent of Police, Lakhimpur. The petitioner union has stated that it has also submitted an FIR before the In-Charge, Harmoti Out Post and also before the Officer In-Charge, Laluk Police Station prior to submitting a representation before the Superintendent of Police, Lakhimpur. The respondent no. 6, namely 'North Assam Section Divisional N.F. Railway Construction Loading Unloading Workers Union' is another trade union and the respondent nos. 7 – 11 are private individuals who are part of the respondent Page No.# 4/5 no. 6 trade union and the grievances of the petitioner union is against them.

¶3The learned Government Advocate was asked to obtain instructions and to file an affidavit when the writ petition was listed on earlier occasions.

¶4An affidavit-in-opposition has been filed by the District Commissioner, that is, the respondent no. 5 on 02.09.2024. In the said affidavit-in-opposition, it has been averred that after receipt of a petition from the petitioner union on

02.11.2023 regarding running of illegal syndicate at Harmoti Junction the matter was enquired through the Circle Officer, Bihpuria Revenue Circle. It has further been averred that noticing the urgency of the matter, a meeting was called on

28.12.2023 in the office of the District Commissioner, Lakhimpur and notices were sent to all the stakeholders. The meeting was chaired by the District Commissioner, Lakhimpur and in the said meeting, it was concluded that since the carrying of goods from the trains by the truck unions is an open platform, no one should be given preference. It was further observed that entrepreneurs and vendors would have the discretion to select the union for their loading and unloading of goods based on their performance. The District Commissioner has further stated that for preventing any kind of quarrel/issue from the parties, a case, Misc. Case no. 179/2023 has been registered on 28.12.2023 and the concerned persons have been asked to enter into a bond for keeping peace for a period of one year. A number of bonds executed in connection with Misc. Case no. 179/2023, proceeded under Section 107, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC] and executed by a number of persons representing the respondent no. 6 union, are found annexed to the affidavit-in-opposition filed by the Deputy Commissioner, Lakhimpur. Page No.# 5/5

¶5The grievance of the petitioner in this writ petition is primarily against the alleged action of the respondent no. 6 Union and its members. The members of the respondent no. 6 union have already executed the bonds of Rs. 25,000/- each under Section 107, CrPC for keeping peace for a period of one year, any subsequent default on their parts can be dealt with under the provisions of Section 107, CrPC.

¶6Mr. Das, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that since the respondent no. 6 Union and some of its members have executed the bonds, as found from the annexures to the affidavit-in-opposition of the District Commissioner, Lakhimpur, the petitioner union has, at this stage, no grievance as any unlawful future action on the part of the respondent no. 6 union and its members would be governed by the conditions of the bond executed between them.

¶7In view of the above fact situation and considering the submissions of the learned counsel for the petitioner, this Court is of the considered view that no cause of action has survived in this writ petition as on date and accordingly, the writ petition stands closed.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010045582024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1293/2024o LAKHIMPURoDISTRICToSECTIONoDIVISIONALoNoFoRAILWAYoFREIGHTo TRUCKoUNIONoHARMOTIoJUNCTIONo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARY,oJUNAoKUTIR,oAGEDoABOUTo51o YEARS,oS/OoSANTOSHoKUJUR,oVILL-o2oNOoBORBALI,oP.O.-BORBALI,oP.S.-o HARMOTIoPATHALIoPAHAR,oDIST-oLAKHIMPUR,oASSAM,oPIN-784163oANDo PRESIDENToSRIoBASANTAoKARMAKER,oS/OoBASUoKARMAKER,oVILLo5oNO. PATTAoHARMOTI,oP.O.-MERBIL,oP.S.-LALUK,oDIST-oLAKHIMPUR,oASSAM VERSUSo THEoUNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo10oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoINDIA,oMINISTRYo OFoRAILWAYS,oRAILoBHAWAN,oNEWoDELHI-110001 2:THEoGENERALoMANAGER oN.F.oRAILWAY oMALIGAON oGUWAHATI-22 oASSAM 3:THEoDIVISIONALoRAILWAYoMANAGERo(W) oN.F.oRAILWAY oRANGIYA oASSAM 4:THEoDIVISIONALoSECURITYoCOMMISSIONER oRAILWAYoPROTECTIONoFORCE oN.F.oRAILWAY oRANGIYAoDIVISION oASSAM 5:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oNORTHoLAKHIMPUR oASSAM Page No.# 2/5 6:NORTH ASSAM SECTION DIVISIONAL N.F. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION LOADING UNLOADING WORKERS UNION REPRESENTED BY SRI SUKHNANDAN MANDAL SECRETARY WARD NO. 2 RAILWAY COLONY LAKHIMPUR NORTH LAKHIMPUR ASSAM PIN-787001 7:RANJIT RAJKHOWA S/O DIMBESWAR RAJKHOWA VILL- HARMOTI P.O.-MERBIL P.S.-LALUK DIST-LAKHIMPUR 8:HEMENTA BORA S/O BASANTA BORA VILL- HARMOTI P.O.-MERBIL P.S.-LALUK DIST-LAKHIMPUR 9:GAJEN HAZARIKA DHARMESWAR HAZARIKA VILL- HARMOTI P.O.-MERBIL P.S.-LALUK DIST-LAKHIMPUR 10:HIRANYA CHUTIA S/O DIMBESWAR CHUTIA VILL- HARMOTI P.O.-MERBIL P.S.-LALUK DIST-LAKHIMPUR 11:VOIRAB BORAH S/O PRABIN BORA VILL- HARMOTI P.O.-MERBIL P.S.-LALUK DIST-LAKHIMPU Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. B K DAS, MR. D BANIA,MR D SAIKIA Page No.# 3/5 Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I., MR. D J DAS (R-1 to 4),GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY