NOVEX DRY CLEANERS Vs. ITS WORKMEN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An industrial dispute arose between the appellant, Novex dry Cleaners and the respondents, its workers. This dispute related to seven items of demands made by the respondents against the appellant. It appears that similar demands were made by the workmen of 27 other Dry Cleaners in New Delhi. That is how the dispute in respect of these demands between 28 Dry cleaners, including the appellant, and their respective workmen was referred for adjudication before the Industrial Tribunal, delhi by the Chief Commissioner of new Delhi. This reference was treated as i. D. No.32 of 1957. At the same time, a similar dispute had arisen between the workmen and two other dry-cleaning institutions in New Delhi. These institutions were Snowhite and Band Box respectively. A separate reference was made to the same Industrial Tribunal for the adjudication of the said dispute and it was treated as I. D. No.66 of 1957. The latter reference ended in two awards which were the result of a settlement between the two establishments and their respective employees. The former went to adjudication and an award was pronounced by the Tribunal in that dispute on the 3rd September, 1958. Against that award, the appellant has come to this Court by special leave and in the present appeal, the appellant has challenged the validity of the award in respect of five items in dispute.

(2.) The main criticism has centred around the wage structure fixed by the appellant in respect of its employees. The Tribunal took the view that the case of the appellant was comparable to the cases of the Snowhite and the Band Box establishments and that it would be fair and reasonable to adopt the wage scale which had been determined in the awards made between the said two establishments and their employees. According to the Tribunal, the case of the appellant was easily distinguishable from the cases of the 27 other establishments involved in the reference in that the said establishments were comparatively of recent origin and financially much less stable and prosperous than the appellant. The appellant concern, said the Tribunal, is one of the biggest establishments and so it would be fair and reasonable to adopt for its employees the same wage structure which would now prevail in the two other concerns, viz. , Snowhite and Band Box. Accordingly, the Tribunal classified the employees into six categories and prescribed a wage scale with increments for them respectively. The correctness of this part of the award is very seriously challenged before us by Mr. Sastri for the appellant.

(3.) It appears from the award that the tribunal addressed itself correctly to the true legal position governing the fixation of a wage structure in industrial disputes. It realised that in deciding upon a wage structure, it may be relevant to take into account the wages prevailing in the industry in the said region, that the wages will have to be fixed in a fair and just way and above all, it would be necessary to examine whether the wage structure proposed to be fixed could be fairly and reasonably borne by the financial position of the establishment. It is now well settled that in fixing a minimum wage, the capacity of the industry to pay the wage is not relevant. But in fixing a fair wage, the capacity of the industry to bear the burden of the said wage is a very relevant and very important factor. Therefore, there can be no doubt that before fixing the wage structure, it was necessary that the Tribunal should have examined the financial position of the appellant and come to a definite conclusion in that behalf.