BADIN, Feb 7: At least 10 people were injured when some members of the Army Welfare Sugar Mill Workers Trade Union clashed with the security guards of the mill here on Saturday.

The members were celebrating the restoration of their union by the Apex court.

Led by union’s president Mohammad Iqbal Baryar and general secretary Ali Mohammad Shah, the members tried to enter the mill but they were not allowed by the security guards, who allegedly used batons and resorted to firing.

Police and Rangers controlled the situation by firing tear gas shells.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Hyderabad and Badin. They included Abdullah, Ghulam Rasool, Mashooq, Mohammad Hanif, Moosa, Mohammad Iqbal, Syed Mohammad Ali Shah and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam’s district chief Moulana Abdul Sattar Chawaro.

According to reports, the general manager of the mill had addressed a letter to the Registrar of Trade Unions, requesting to file a complaint in the Labour Court.

He contended that the mill is a project of armed forces and the union is registered in contravention of provisions of the repealed ordinance. The Labour Court had dismissed the complaint.

The administration, however, invoked the jurisdiction of the Sindh High Court under article 199 of the Constitution and the learned court allowed the petition setting aside the order of the Labour Court and directed the registrar to cancel the registration.

The Apex court considering the opinion that far claiming an exemption under section 1(4) a functional connection with the armed forces as to activities performed in the establishment where a person is employed must be established.

At the same time, the limitation of the armed forces is clearly spelled out in the article 245 of the Constitution. The mill in question is neither rendering services exclusively to the armed forces nor can it be treated as an installation of such forces, opined the court.

The court allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned order of the Sindh High Court and restored the orders of the Labour Court Hyderabad.

TALKS: A local PPP leader, Dr Aziz Memon, and Badin’s DPO Fida Hussain Mastoi held talks with the general manager of the Army Welfare Sugar Mill and labour union leaders, Mohammad Iqbal and Ali Mohammad Shah, for an amicable settlement of the dispute. However, the union leaders insisted that they would continue their protest and said that the talks were not possible till the registration of a case against the general manager and security guards of the mill.

Mill’s Labour Officer Zaheer Hussain said that the mill would file a review petition and would not hold talks with the union leaders.