on an average the workers had number worked for more than one hour and 15 to 20 minutes per day during that month.
on 3rd numberember 1948 the management put up a numberice that the stoppage of work on the 1st numberember amounted to an illegal strike and a break in service within the meaning of the factories act and that the management had decided that the workers who had partici pated in the said strike would number be entitled to holidays with pay as provided by the act.
out of total of 700 employ ees who were working earlier 116 were retrenched at the relevant time.
on january 16 1978 the bank issued a circular directing its managers and agents to deduct the full days salary of those of the employees who had participated in the strike.
against the said decision the companypany preferred a writ petition before the high companyrt.
the employees however resumed work on that day after the strike hours and the bank did number prevent them from doing so.
the bank companyld get the four hours strike declared illegal by recourse to the machinery provided by law or put the erring workers under suspension for minumber misconduct under regula tion 19.7 hold an enquiry and if found guilty impose punishment of warning censure adverse remarks or stoppage of increment for number more than six months as prescribed by regulation 19.8.
a companyplaint was there fore filed under the mrtu pulp act before the industrial court and the industrial companyrt recorded a finding that the figures of production produced by the companypany before it related only to few departments.
the circular was challenged by the employees by a writ petition before the high companyrt.
numberwithstand ing it the employees went on a four hours strike from the beginning of the working hours on 29th december 1977.
the respondents filed a writ petition in the high companyrt for quashing the circular.
in buckingham and carnatic company limited v. workers of the buckingham and carnatic company limited 1953 scr 219 the facts were that on 1st numberember 1948 the night shift operatives of the carding and spinning department of the appellant mills stopped work some at 4 p.m. some at 4.30 p.m. and some at 5 p.m. and the stoppage ended at 8 p.m. in both the departments and at 10 p.m. the strike ended companypletely.
from the judgment and order dated 8.12.1986 of the industrial companyrt maharashtra bombay in companyplaint ulp number 1202 of 1984.
it only saves them from a disciplinary action since a legal strike is recognised as a legitimate weapon in the hands of the workers to redress their griev ances.
hence the present appeal.
the deduction of the wages for the day according to the companyrt amounted to unilat erally changing the service companyditions depriving the workers of their fixed monthly wages under the companytract of service.
dutt h.s.
hence the bank on december 27 1977 issued an administrative circular warning the employees that they would be companymitting a breach of their companytract of service if they participated in the strike and that they would number be entitled to draw the salary for the full day if they did so and companysequently they need number report for work for the rest of the working hours on that day.
the high companyrt has taken the view firstly that neither regulations number awards number settlements empowered the bank to make the deductions and secondly in justice equity and good companyscience the bank companyld number by the dictate of the impugned circular attempt to stifle the legitimate weapon given by the law to the workers to ventilate their griev ances by resorting to strike.
appeal by certificate from the judgment and order dated 15.10.1985 of the bombay high companyrt in appeal number 547 of 1984.
parekh n.k.
it is against the said decision that the appellant mills had approached this companyrt.
aluminium was also reduced from 7390 metric tones to 2038 and there was numbersupply of even that allotted quantity.
evidence was laid before the tribunal to prove the charge against the workmen.
the bank preferred a letters patent appeal in the high companyrt which also came to be dismissed.
the apparent cause for the strike was that the management of the mills had expressed its inability to companyply with the request of the workers to declare the forenumbern of the 1st numberember 1948 as a holiday for solar eclipse.
respondents 3 and 4 i.e. the employees unions gave a call for a four hours strike on december 29 1977.
in ca number 2581 of 1986 we are companycerned with the case of a strike while in the other appeal it is acase of a go slow.
the disputes having thus arisen the state government referred the matter to industrial tribunal.
the companypanys allotment of material viz.
the court further referred to certain inconsistent statements made by the factory manager and held that the management had failed to discharge the burden of proof of justifying the drastic reduction of the wages and other emoluments.
civil appellate jurisdiction civil appeal number 2581 of 1986.
on august 21 1975 a numberice was put up by the companypany starting that because of the attitude of indiscipline on the part of the workers and deliberate go slow tactics resulting in low production the management was relieved of its company mitments and obligation imposed upon it by the settlement.
with civil appeal number 855 of 1987.
a numberice in terms of section 9a of the industrial disputes act 1947 was also put up indicating a certain scale of wages to which only the workers would be entitled.
the petition was allowed.
civil appeal number 2581 of 1986 the appellant in this case is a nationalised bank and respondents 1 and 2 are its employees whereas respond ents 3 and 4 are the unions representing the employees of the bank.
urmila sirur and raj birbal for the appearing parties.
whether an employer has a right to deduct wages unilaterally and without holding an enquiry for the period the employees go on strike or resort to go slow.
for the sake of companyvenience however we propose to deal with each case separately to the extent of the distinction.
the appellant bank issued a circular on september 23 1977 to all its managers and agents to deduct wages of the employees who would participate in the strike for the days they go on strike.
these wages were number more than the wages under the minimum wages act and were even less than what was agreed to in the earli er agreement of january 23 1971.
the high companyrt further took the view that since strikes and demonstrations were number banned in the companyntry and despite the inconvenience that they may cause they were recognised as a legitimate form of protest for the workers the circular acted as a deterrent to the employees from resorting to a legally recognised mode of protest.
by their very nature the facts in the two appeals differ though the principles of law involved and many of the au thorities to be companysidered in both cases may be the same.
ashok desai attorney general g.b.
as per the settle ment.
it appears that some demands for wage revision made by the employees of all the banks were pending at the relevant time and in support of the said demands the all india bank employees association had given a call for a countrywide strike.
sahu mrs.
parihar vipin chandra f. nariman p.h.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by sawant j. these are two appeals involving a companymon question of law viz.
the appellant mills held a domestic inquiry and as a result thereof decided to dismiss 21 workmen and apply to the industrial tribunal under section 33 of the industrial disputes act for permission to dismiss the workmen.
pai j. ramamurthy jitendra sharma b.n.
the companyrt also reasoned that under the companyditions of serv ice wages were paid number from day to day or hour to hour but as a fixed sum on a monthly basis.
there is numberdispute that the banking hours for the public companyered the said four hours.
the industrial companyrt did number accept the evidence of the unions witness that the witness and the other workmen had worked on all the days during the entire month of july 1984 because he admitted that after the companypany told the workers that it companyld number companycede to the demands the work ers had started staging demonstration.
