 bui no 57 of 1988 the bharat petrolexjm corporation u m ite d  (deter­ mination o f conditions o f service of employees) b ili4, 1968 billto empower the central government to determine the conditions of service of the officers and em ployes of bharat petroleum corporation limi­ ted and for matters connected therewithwhereas for the purpose of m aking th e conditions of service of the officers and employees of the b harat petrolexmi corporation lim ited com­parable w ith the conditions of service of th e officers and employees of other public sector companies, it is necessary to empowra: the c entral 5 g overnm ent to determ ine the conditions of service of the officers and emplojrees of the said corporation;be it enacted by parliam ent in  the t hirty-ninth y ear of the republic of india as follows: —1 this act m ay be called the b harat petroleum  corporation lim ited 10 (d eterm ination of conditions of service of employees) act, 1988 tiibdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherw ise requires,—(a) "b urm ah shell" m eans the b urm ah shell oil s to r a ^  a a d  d istributing com pany of india lim ited, a foreign com pany w ithin th e m eaning of section 591 of the com panies act, 1956 as it existed im - i of 1955m ediately before the appointed day under the b urm ah shell (acqui- 5 sition of u ndertakings in india) act, 1976; 2 of 1976(fe) "b urm ah shell refineries" m eans the b urm ah shell refiner­ies lim ited, a com pany registered under the indian companies act,1913, as it existed inm iediately before it becam e a g overnm ent com- 7 of 1913, ps®y; 10(c) "c orporation" m eans the b harat petroleum  c orporation lim ited, a g overnm ent company, as defined in section 617 of the com panies act, 1956;  1 of 1956(d) "officers and em ployees of the c orporation" includes,—(i) the officers and em ployees who w ere in the service of 15th e b urm ah shell refineries and w ho continued to be in  the service of the said com pany after it becam e a g overnm ent com­pany; and(ii) the officers and em ployees who w ere in the service of b urm ah shell and whose services w ere transferred to th e cor- 20 poration by section 9 of the b urm ah shell (acquisition of u nder­ takings in india) act, 1976; 2 of 1976,(e) "public sector com pany" m eans any corporation established by or under any c entral act or a g overnm ent com pany as defined in section 617 of the com panies act, 1956 25 1 of 195614 of 1947s (1) w here the c entral g overnm ent is satisfied th a t for the purpose of m aking the conditions of service of the officers and em ployees of th e c orporation com parable w ith the conditions of service of the officers and employees of other public sector companies, it is necessary so to do, it m ay, notw ithstanding anything contained in the industrial disputes act, 30 1947 or any other law  or any agreem ent, settlem ent, aw ard or other in­ strum ent for the tim e being in force, and notw ithstanding any judgm ent, decree or order of any court tribunal or other authority, fram e one or m ore schemes for the purpose of determ ination of the conditions of service of the officers and employees of the corporationpower of central govern­ment to frame schemes to determine condi­ tions of service of officers and employees(2) w hile fram ing any scheme under sub-section (i), it shall be com petent for the c entral g overnm ent to provide for the continuance, after th e com m encem ent of any such scheme, of such of the em olum ents or other benefits as w ere payable to, or entitled to be received by, the officers and em ployees of the corporation referred to in sub-clause (i) 40 or sub-clause (ii) of clause (d) of section 2 im m ediately before the b urm ah shell refineries becam e a g overnm ent company, or as the case m ay be, im m ediately before the appointed day under the b u rm ah  2 of 1976 shell (acquisition of u ndertakings in india) act, 1976(3) the c entral g overnm ent m ay m ake a scheme to am end or vary 45any scheme m ade under sub-section (i)(4) the pow er to m ake any scheme under sub-section (1) or sub­section (3) shall include,— ^(a) the power to give retrospective effect to any such scheme or any provision thereof; and^ (b) the pow er to amend, by w ay of addition, variation or repeal,any existing provisions determ ining the conditions of service of the officers and em ployees of the corporation in force im m ediately before the com m encem ent of this act(5) every scheme m ade under sub-section (i) or sub-section (3) 10 shall be laid, as soon as m ay be after it is made, before each house of parliam ent, w hile it is in  session for a total period of thirty days which m ay be comprised in one session or in two or m ore successive session?, and if, before the expiry of the session im m ediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in m aking any modification in the scheme, or both houses agree th at the scheme should not be made, the scheme shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form  or be of no effect, as the case m ay be; so, however, th at any such modification or annulm ent shall be w ithout prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that 20 scheme statem ent of objects and reasonsp rio r to 1976, b um uih shell had two companies in india, nam ely, the b urm ah shell refineries lim ited (bvum ah shell refineries) and th e b urm ah shell oil storage and d istributing com pany of india lim ited (b urm ah s h e ll) w hile the form er was exclusively concerned w ith the refining of crude as its only activity, the la tte r was concerned w ith the sale, supply and distribution of petroleim i products in the country these tw o companies had common shareholders2 in 1976, the undertakings of b urm ah shell w ere acquired by th e c entral g overnm ent by th e provisions of th e burm ah shell (acquisition of u ndertakings in india) act, 1976 subsequently, by a process of share transfer, all the shares of burm ah shell refineries w ere transferred to th e president of india thereby m aking it a g overnm ent company the assets and liabilities of burm ah shell w hich w ere acquired by the act of 1976, w ere vested in th e said g overnm ent com pany in accordance w ith the pow ers conferred under section 7 of the 1976 act and the officers and employees of burm ah shell w ere also transferred to the said com­pany by section 9 of th a t act thus, from  1976, the biurmah shell re­fineries (which had then become a g overnm ent company) w ere not only engaged in refining activities b u t also in the sale, supply and distribution ot petrolem n products in  the country the nam e of the com pany was also changed to b harat refineries lim ited and then to b harat petroleum  corporation lim ited (b harat petroleum ) from  19773 the b harat petroleum  now  consists, therefore, of three categories of employees t hey are: the employees of b urm ah shell refineries who continued to serve in  th at com pany even after it becam e a govern­m ent com pany; the em ployees of b urm ah shell whose services w ere transferred to b urm ah shell refineries under th e provisions of the 1976 act; and the em ployees recruited by b harat petroleum  after it became a g overnm ent company4 o ut of the first tw o categories of employees m entioned above, a few have not agreed to abide by the public sector w age policy and there­ fore continue to enjoy the em olum ents and other conditions of service to w hich theyj w ere entitled to under the aforesaid com panies even after b urm ah shell refineries becam e a g overnm ent company, or, as the czise m ay be, after the nationalisation of b urm ah shell the em olum ents and other conditions of service of the third category of e m p lo y ^  m entioned above and w ho w ere recruited by b harat petroleum  were, however, sought to be regulated after taking into consideration th e conditions of service applicable to employees in other public sector companies in accordance w ith the w age policy of the g overnm ent for public sector th at th ere should, as far as possible, be parity in th e conditions of service of public sector companies b ut as these conditions of service are le ss "favourable, this category of employees claim ed th at their em olum ents and other con­ditions service should also be on the samej lines as are applicable to the em ployees of burm ah shell refineries and b urm ah shell5 on a dispute being taken to the industrial tribunal it was held that in view of the provisions of section 18(3) of the industrial d isputes act, 1947, these employees are also entitled to the same conditions of service as are applicable to the other tw o categories of employees a n appeal had been preferred to the bombay high c ourt against the aw ard of the t ribunal and the sam e is pending the aw ard of the industrial tribunal, if given effect to in b harat petroleum , w ill am ount to giving a higher wage structure in this corporation alone and other em ployees in dm ilar undertakings m ay dem and th at they should also get the benefits of the higher scales of pay on the principle of "equal pay for equal w ork" this m ay eventually result in high w age islands and depart radically from the public sector wage policy it is, therefore, necessary th at the conditions of service of the employees of b harat petroleum  should be m ade com parable w ith the conditions of service prevalent in other public sector companies in accordance w ith g overnm ent of india's wage policy as the continuance of th e conditions of service of the employees of the form er companies is due to historical reasons and as the conditions of service of the employees of b harat refineries were arrived at as a result of settlem ents made by the company and its w ork­m en, and the dem and of the post-nationalisation employees for parity w ith the em p lo y es of th e form er companies m ay have to be conceded in view of the provisions of the industrial disputes act and the aw ard of the industrial tribunal, any attem pt to m ake the conditions of service of the officers and employees of b harat petroleum  com parable w ith the conditions of service of other public sector companies can only be done by legislation such a legislation could provide for determ ination of com­parable conditions of service for all the categories of employees of b harat petroleum , but at the same time, provide for protection to those pre­nationalisation employees of their conditions of service6 the bill accordingly seeks to achieve this object by em powering the c entral g overnm ent to fram e one or more schemes for determ ination of the conditions of sei'vice of the oificers and employees of b harat petroleum nbw i^slht; brahm duttthe 3rd may, 1988 memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 3(1) of th e b ill em pow ers th e c entral g overnm ent to fram e one or m ore schemes for determ ining th e conditions of service of th e officers and em ployees of the c orporation to m ake them  com parable w ith th e conditions of service of the officers and em p lo y es of other public sec­to r companies sub-clause (3) and (4) of clause 3 em pow er th e central g overnm ent to vary any schem e m ade under sub-clause (1) or to give retrospective effect to any sucti scheme the m atters in respect of w hich schem es m ay be m ade are m atters of procedure and detail and it m ay not be practicable to provide them  in the biuthe delegation of legislative power, is, therefore of a norm al character a billto empower the central govenunent to determine the conditions of ser­vice of the officers and employees of bharat petroleum cozporatiod limited and for matters connected therewith(shri brahm dutt, mirustier of state of the mifiistry of petroleum and naturooi gas)