Fair transfer of industrial disputes requires notice to the other side and reasons supported by relevant material.

Section 33-B empowers the appropriate Government to withdraw and transfer pending industrial proceedings, but the discretion must be exercised fairly and on germane material. Where transfer is sought on one party's request, the opposite party must be given an opportunity to meet the factual basis of that request unless the statute clearly excludes natural justice. The Government must also record reasons and those reasons must be supported by the material on record; a transfer founded on misleading or unsupported material is invalid. The Supreme Court quashed the transfer from Dhanbad to Patna for want of notice to the management and because the stated basis was not reliable.

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Issues: Whether the transfer of an industrial dispute from one Labour Court to another under Section 33-B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 could be made on the basis of one party's representation without notice to the other party, and whether reasons supporting the transfer were required to be disclosed and based on relevant material.

Analysis: Section 33-B confers a discretionary power on the appropriate Government to withdraw and transfer pending proceedings, but once the power is exercised the order must state reasons. The power, though not necessarily judicial in form, is controlled by the requirement of fairness in administrative action. Where the transfer is made on the request of one side in a pending adjudication, the other side is entitled to an opportunity to verify the factual basis of that request, because natural justice and the duty to act fairly apply to such decision-making unless excluded by statute. The Court also held that the Government's reasons must be germane and supported by the material on record; if the stated basis is misleading or unsupported, the transfer is vitiated.

Conclusion: The transfer order was invalid for want of opportunity to the management and for being founded on misleading material; the notification transferring the case from Dhanbad to Patna was quashed in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: When a statutory transfer power affecting pending adjudicatory proceedings is exercised on one party's request, the authority must act fairly by giving the opposite party an opportunity to meet the request and must record and rely on relevant reasons; absence of such fairness or relevant reasons renders the transfer order bad.

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