Charu Khurana And Others v. Union Of India And Others

Order

1. IA No. 1, application for impleadment on behalf of the National Commission for Women as a party-respondent, is allowed. Amended memo of parties may be filed within a week, hence.

2. Ms Jyotika Kalra, learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners, who are make-up artists, have not been allowed to be registered as members in the Cine Costume Make-up Artists and Hair Dressers Association, Respondent 5 herein as a consequence of which their livelihood is affected. The learned counsel further submits that the only ground for not giving her the membership or the card as a make-up artist, is a woman. It is urged by the learned counsel that similar is the situation in other States like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

3. Ms Dubey, learned counsel appearing for the Registrar of Trade Unions, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Respondent 4 submitted that the Registrar, after receiving the complaint from the petitioners have taken up the issue with Respondent 5 and directed to delete the clauses that bring in this kind of classification which is not constitutionally permissible but the Association has not taken any steps.

4. Ms Shanti, learned counsel appearing for Karnataka State Film Make-up and Hair Stylist Association, Respondent 10 herein, submitted that she has instructions to state that this kind of differentiation does not exist in the Karnataka Film Industry. She prays for four weeks' time to bring in the requisite affidavit on record.

5. At this juncture, the learned counsel for the petitioners has referred to the communication sent on 1-8-2009 from Respondent 5 to Respondent 6 i.e Federation of Western India Cine Employees indicating as follows:

“2. Insofar as the allegations of alleged discrimination and not issuing of cards to female members as make-up artist are concerned, it is stated that make-up artist cards are issued only to male members from the date of formation of the Association, no make-up artist card has been issued to female members till date. This is done to ensure that male members are not deprived of working as make-up artists. If the female members are given make-up artist card then it will become impossible for the male members to get work as make-up artists and they will lose their sources of livelihood and will be deprived of their earnings to support themselves and their families because no one would be interested to engage the services of a male make-up artist if the female make-up artists are available, looking to the human tendency. It would be appropriate to write to you that so far as hair dressers' cards are concerned, that is exclusively given to females and never issued to male members at all. There is absolutely no question of discrimination practised by us and everybody is given equal opportunity to earn their livelihood by exploiting their best talents.”

She has also drawn our attention to the letter written by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi dated 15-12-2010, which is as follows:

“1. I am directed to refer to National Commission for Women's communication regarding Ms Charu Khurana's complaint, who has alleged that she has been denied membership solely on the ground of her being a woman.

2. In this regard, I am to state that discrimination on the ground of gender solely is violative of constitutional provisions and various other laws of the land.

3. You are requested to issue directions to all the regional federations that stringent action would be taken against any organisation/federation found guilty of discrimination on the ground of gender solely.

4. This may please be brought to all the associations/organisations falling under your purview.”

6. It is submitted by Ms Kalra that the two grounds which are being taken up by this kind of trade unions are that women cannot get the status of make-up persons and they can only practise as hair dressers. It is very fairly put forth by her that the petitioners have no objection if the male artists are called hair dressers as well as make-up men. In essence, the submission of the learned counsel is that this differentiation which has been made by the Association despite the directions made by the Registrar of Trade Unions have not only let them feel humiliated but also affected their constitutional rights to be treated with equality, apart from the various affirmative provisions contained in the Constitution of India.

7. At his juncture, we must appreciably state that Mr L.N Rao, learned ASG, submitted that as the pleadings would show, the problem is not confined to the film industry at Mumbai but such industries throughout India, possibly in those States where films, feature/documentary, etc. are made. As we perceive, the whole issue relates to classification on the basis of gender. Therefore, we would require Mr Rao to get data from all the States in this regard and file a comprehensive affidavit by the competent officer of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India within a period of four weeks.

8. Let the matter be listed on 26-8-2014.