WORKMEN OF CALCUTTA ELECTRIC SUPPLY CORPORATION LIMITED Vs. CALCUTTA ELECTRIC SUPPLY CORPORA TION LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave from an Award dated 31 January 1968 of the Second Industrial Tribunal, West Bengal, relates essentially to the manner of calculation of overtime wages for non-factory personnel (including the members of the clerical staff) of the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company). The question that was referred to the Tribunal for adjudication was framed by the Government of West Bengal in its order of reference in the following manner:

(2.) The Tribunal in its Award directed that the overtime rate for non-factory personnel should in no case be less than the time-rate. The Tribunal further directed that no employee should get overtime at more than the time-rate until he has completed 48 hours a week but that as soon as he exceeds 48 hours, the overtime rate should be 1 1/2 times the time-rate. This rate of overtime wages in favour of the non-factory personnel was directed to be given effect to from 4 February 1967 which was the date of reference. The workmen of the company have now come on appeal against the decision of the Tribunal in so far as the Tribunal limited the overtime wages to the time-rate for any period short of 48 hours a week.

(3.) It appears that different categories of employees of the company have different weekly hours of work prescribed for them. The weekly hours for some are 48, for others 10 and for some others 35. The learned Tribunal seems to have been impressed by the fact that overtime was paid to different categories of workmen at different rates and that they were calculated by different systems. The Tribunal tried to rationalise the situation by providing the payment of overtime at uniform rates to all employees upto 48 hours a week:all employees were to get overtime for any period in excess of their weekly hours of work but less than 48 hours a week at their time-rates. For periods exceeding 48 hours a week, however, all workmen were to receive overtime wages at 1 1/2 times their respective time-rates. This is how the Tribunal according to the respondent company sought to establish uniformity in the matter of payment of overtime wages. The appellants contended that payment of wages for overtime at the time-rate cannot be taken as overtime payment at all. If an employee has to work beyond his scheduled working hours he should get proportionately more wages for each such extra hour. The respondent tried to meet this grievance by saying that in some cases the weekly hours of work were less than 48 only because in the centres concerned, there was not sufficient work to keep the employees busy for 48 hours every week. Even so the company would have been at liberty to fix 48 hours as the weekly hours of work for all employees. The fact that in the case of certain employees they fixed a shorter period should not, they say, go against the company and they should be allowed to make the employees work upto 48 hours a week on payment of overtime wages at the time-rate. It was pointed out that the award of the Tribunal did not enable the company to get overtime work without payment of extra wages. All that it permitted the company to do was to pay overtime wages at the time-rate upto 48 hours a week. This provision meant that upto one point all workers were placed on the same uniform basis. After that point had been reached i.e. to say for any period of overtime beyond 48 hours a week the employees were to get overtime wages at 1 1/2 time-rates.