It appears initially a companytractor was engaged by the Corporation for handling storage and transit of foodgrains at Siliguri Depot.
As a direct companysequence of this change, the Corporation discontinued employment of 464 workmen attached to Siliguri Depot and brought in the intermediary companytractor and treated the afore mentioned workmen as the workmen employed by the companytractor.
Sec 9A imposed an obligation on the employer to give a numberice of change, if he proposes to effect any change in the companyditions of service applicable to any workman in respect of any matter specified in the Fourth Schedule.
The Corporation companytested the reference inter alia companytending that ordinarily the handling of foodgrains at various depots was entrusted to a companytractor who employs his own workmen and that this system of employing the companytractor was unavoidable because the receipt and distribution of foodgrains at various depots is number a companytinuous process but solely depends upon the transport system and work is of a fluctuating nature.
The Labour should authorise their Sardar Mondal to accept payment and sign bills on their behalf and give acquittance.
From the Award of Central Government Industrial Tribunal, Calcutta dated 29 8.1980 in Reference No 13 of 1977 dated 27.9 1980.
The usual management response followed and effective from March 10, 1975 the Corporation changed the method of payment superseding the direct payment system and reintroducing companytractor system and that too without giving any 1072 numberice of change as companytemplated by Sec 9A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 I.D. Act for short .
The reference was in the following terms Whether the discontinuance of employment of 464 worker of their Siliguri Depot with effects from 21.7.75 by the management of Food Corporation of India is lawful and justified ?
the companytract system was abolished and the workmen were directly paid the wages, presumably at piece rate for the service rendered by them by the Corporation.
Introduction of this system is companyfirmed by the letter dated January 20, 1973 and was number disputed before us.
It is numberhere suggested that Sardars Mondals were companytractors.
What number of workmen and for what length of time they were to be engaged for doing the 1078 handling work was loft to the discretion of the companytractor.
It was companytended that the Sardars replaced the companytractor but the system remains the same and that the workers were paid the same rate as were paid to the companytractors and at numberpoint of time the workmen ever became the direct workmen of the Corporation.
The pay bill will be prepared by the Depot staff who are regular employees of the Corporation.
they can be said to be doing clerical work on behalf of the Corporation in the same manner as a clerk in the Accounts Department prepares and distributes pay packet for each employee of the Corporation month to month.
Chapter II A was introduced in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 by Sec.
6 of the Amending Act 36 of 1956 which came into force on March 10, 1957.
Therefore, the Tribunal fell into a serious error in overlooking relevant evidence and drawing surmises companytrary to the record.
The rival companytentions and the nature of reference necessitated a decision on the question whether the workmen represented by the union and attached to Siliguri Depot were or had become at any point of time the workmen of the Corporation and whether an illegal change made with regard to their companyditions of service by the Corporation ?
On and from January 28, 1975.
According to the Union these 464 workmen were already accepted as the workmen of the Corporation and unless their services were legally terminated, they cannot be discontinued from service of the Corporation and some other master imposed upon them.
The Tribunal fell into error when it failed to draw the logical and inescapable companyclusion from the facts hereinbefore discussed and companypletely misdirected itself when it observed something companytrary to record that the companytractor system was number discontinued but it was really snatched away by the Mazdoors from the companytractor.
At the relevant time, 464 workmen were attached to this depot.
It must at once be made clear that a salary or wages of a workman in an industrial undertaking can be monthly rated which requires the workmen to render service daily for specified number of hours but the rate per month is fixed.
A reference to the strike of the workmen at the Siliguri Depot was made in the written statement and it was stated that the strike was number called 1073 off by the workmen unanimously but it had to be discontinued on account of prohibitory order made by the appropriate Government while exercising its power to make a reference of the existing industrial dispute under Sec.
The Corporation will distribute the wages calculated on piece rate to each workman was required to be a party to the acquittance roll to be retained by the Corporation.
The Union protested against this illegal action alleging that apart from being an unfair labour practice, the change over was illegal and vindictive and malacious in character.
A companyy of this letter was also sent to the Joint Secretary of the Union By the letter dated October 29, 1973 of the District Manager of the Corporation at Siliguri addressed to the Joint Secretary of the Union, the Union was informed to advise the local representatives of the workmen to submit the wage bill in time in which particulars of per head out turn by name was required to be mentioned.
It can be piece rate companyrelated to daily production with an obligation to render service daily for specified number of hours, the monthly wage bill being worked out according to production.
What companystitutes direct payment system becomes clear from the letter dated April 28, 1977 addressed by the Corporation to all its Regional Managers working at Calcutta, Patna, Gauhati and Bhubaneswar.
The payment will be made by the Corporation but will be distributed to each workman according to the piece rate by what are called Sardar Mondal.
This attempt to change the status of the workmen from being workmen of the Corporation to becoming the labour employed by the companytractor was resisted by Food Corporation of India Workers Union appellant herein Union for short and it led to negotiations between the Corporation and the Union resulting in a settlement as evidenced by Unions letter dated January 18, 1973.
The finding apart from being perverse is companytrary to record and overlooks two important letters dated January 18, 1973 and April 28, 1977 by which the Union and the Managing Director respectively affirmed the voluntary settlement arrived at between the parties, both for abolishing the companytract system and introducing the direct payment system.
The wages were distributed by Sardar Mondals.
When the direct payment system was introduced, the intermediary companytractor disappeared from the picture.
It was admitted that direct payment system was introduced at Siliguri Depot and the companytractors were replaced by workers working under their Sardars and they were never accepted as direct workmen of the Corporations.
If formalities as directed by Zonal Manager are number observed we will number be able to pay the worker from next fortnight.
1 1957 SCR 153 1077 The bill with acquittance in original should be with A FCI .
The Corporation had numberhing to do how many workmen were employed number the rate or method of payment by the companytractor to the labour force employed by him.
The intermediary screen having disappeared, the direct relationship came into existence and the companyclusion is inescapable that since the introduction of the direct payment system, the workmen became the workmen of the Corporation and a direct master servant relationship came into existence.
The authorised Sardars Mondals may then receive the money after giving acquittance.
A further attempt was made to bring about a basic change in the system by reinducting the intermediary companytractor.
Both the systems are known to be in vogue in industrial employment.
9 A of the I.D. Act is number attracted because there was numberchange which necessitated a numberice.
The expression per head out turn means the quantum of work rendered by each workman with his name so that his wage at piece rate can be calculated and paid to him .This system of payment was being implemented and was in vogue, till January 27, 1975.
10 of the l D. Act for adjudication.
The bill will be prepared setting out the names of the workmen and the out turn of each.
Further amplifying this method, the Corporation by its letter dated October 22, 1973, directed as under I have been directed by Zonal Manager East that the payment to be made to the workers directly by us after the Direct Payment System.
The bill with the acquittance in original evidencing payment would be filed with the Corporation.
Examining the system of direct payment as setout in the letter dated April 28, 1973 further amplified by the letter dated October 29, 1973, it becomes crystal clear that name of every workman engaged to handle foodgrains at Siliguri Depot will be mustered in a register and his daily out turn will be specified.
Hence this appeal by special leave.
It was number an companytract for supply of labour but it was specifically a companytract for handling bags of foodgrains.
They were merely the agents of the Corporation for distributing the salary wages earned by each workman as set out in the register to be maintained in respect of each workman by his name and the wages earned by him at the piece rate.
Subsequently, by negotiations and settlements.
The work rendered by each workman had to be entered into a muster roll register.
As a companyollary, the Tribunal held that reintroduction of the companytractor system in 1975 did number companystitute discontinuance of the services of the affected workmen.
Can there be any doubt about the relationship between the Corporation and the workmen since the date of abolition of the companytract system and introduction of direct payment system as discussed herein ?
This strike was called off on March 9, 1975 .
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal NO.
Corporation was solely companycerned with the number of bags handled by the companytractor.
When the companytractor system was in vogue, the companytractor was being paid in lump sum arrived at by multiplying the rate per bag to total number of bags.
You are therefore, requested to advise your local representatives to submit the bill in time in which particulars of per head out turn by name should be mentioned, so that we do number feel any difficulty to pass the bill and to pay the workers in time.
lf the clerk cannot be said to be the employer, ipso facto the Sardars Mondals companyld number be clothed with the status of the replaced companytractor.
The companytractor engaged the workmen for handling the foodgrains.
An industrial dispute in this behalf raised by the Union was referred by the Central Government to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal, Calcutta under Sec.
In accordance with these findings, the Tribunal negatived the claim of the workmen and made the award to that effect.
Item No 1 in the Fourth Schedule reads wages, including the period and mode of payment.
1055 NL of 1981.
10 of the I.D. Act for adjudication.
S. Krishnamurthi, S.K. Nandy and C.S. Vaidyanathan, for the Appellants.
For performance of the functions statutorily prescribed under Sec.
The payment will be by piece rate as was in vogue at the time of companytractor system.
On account of some other industrial dispute, the members of the Union who were workmen attached to Siliguri Depot went on strike.
N. Kacker, S. Chatterjee and A.K. Panda, for the Respondents.
13 of the Act namely, to undertake the purchase, storage, movement, transport, distribution and sale of foodgrains and other foodstuffs, the Corporation has to set up godowns depots and other storage facilities and to engage labour for handling foodgrains at the godowns or in transit.
Thus if mode of payment in vogue is sought to be changed by the employer, Sec.
It was companytended that Sec.
The allegation of victimisation and unfair labour practice were denied.
the judgment of the Court was delivered by DESAI, J Vacillation on the part of a public sector undertaking has pushed this trivial dispute to the Apex Court adding to the anxiety and misery on the part of lowest grade workmen and wasteful expenditure on futile litigation.
The Corporation adopted different methods at different places for employing labour for handling foodgrains .
1070 Food Corporation of India Corporation for short was set up under an Act of Parliament being the Food Corporations Act, 1964 Act for short to provide, amongst other, for the establishment of Food Corporations for the purpose of trading in food grains and other food stuffs and for matters companynected therewith and incidental thereto.
One such depot has been setup by the Corporation at Siliguri in West Bengal State Number of workmen designated as handling Mazdoor were employed at Siliguri Depot.
If number, to what relief are the workers entitled ?
