BURMAH SHELL REFINERIES LIMITED Vs. THEIR WORKMEN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave arises out of an industrial dispute between the appellant company, and their clerical staff on the question of bonus for the year 1956. The demand of the workmen was for bonus equivalent to 8 months, total earnings of the year. The company resisted this demand mainly on the ground that there was in existence an agreement between the company and its labour employees - whereby bonus for the year 1956 had been settled at 4.1/2 moths' basic wages, that the general practice in awards in the matter of bonus had in the past been to award or grant lesser amounts to clerical employees than to labour, and that in any case, to grant the same rate of bonus to clerical employees and labour employees would be "to encourage or to invite strife and discontent". The Tribunal held that such an agreement as regards bonus for 1956 had been voluntarily entered into on behalf of the workers and was beneficial to them and was of opinion that the bonus to the clerical staff ought to be on the same scale. On the one hand, it rejected the clerical staff's claim for bonus at a higher rate than what the workmen were entitled to, as this "would lead to industrial discontent and strife," and on the other held that there was no reason to grant the clerical staff bonus at a lower rate. Accordingly it awarded bonus at the rates of 9/24ths of the basic wages, to the clerical staff, for the year ending December 31, 1956.

(2.) Two contentions were raised in appeal. The first is that the Tribunal erred in awarding bonus without having recorded a conclusion as regards the existence and extent of the gap between the actual wages received by these workmen and the living wage. The second contention urged on behalf of the appellant is that the Tribunal erred in granting to the clerical staff bonus at the same rate as was payable to the labour staff, on the basis of the agreement, and should have granted bonus to the clerical staff, at a lower rate.

(3.) The appellant cannot however be allowed to urge the first contention in this appeal because such a contention does not appear to have been seriously raised before the Tribunal. It is true that in the first part of the written statement filed before the Tribunal on behalf of the company a statement was made that "the company craves leave to refer to and rely on, as if incorporated herein, its written statement filed before this Hon'ble Tribunal in Ref. (I. T.) 279 of 1957, and repeats and adopts all the submissions and averments made therein" and that in the written statement filed therein a question that in view of the high wages paid by the company no gap existed between the actual wages and the living wages, was taken. Not only was no independent statement made in the separate written statement which was filed in the present reference, i.e., Ref. No. (I.T.) 106 of 1958 on this question but we find no reference at all in the award made by the Tribunal which heard both the references together to any contention of this nature. No ground that the Tribunal had granted bonus without coming to a conclusion as regards the existence and extent of a gap between the actual wage received by the workmen and the living wage was taken in the petition for special leave to appeal. Even in the statement of case filed on behalf of the appellant no such question had been raised. It is not therefore open to the appellant to urge such a contention now.