UNION OF INDIA Vs. SURESH C BASKEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question before the Central Administrative Tribunal Calcutta Bench (the Tribunal) was whether the employees (workmen) working in the Government Mint, Alipur, Calcutta - who were allottees of Government accommodation and as such were not being paid house rent allowance - were entitled to compute the overtime allowance payable to them after taking into account, notionally, the element of house rent allowance. Following its earlier decision in OA 13 of 1987 (decided on 17/04/1990) the Tribunal answered the question by the impugned judgment dated 6/09/1990 in the affirmative and decided the same in favour of the employees. This appeal, by the Union of India is against the judgment of the Tribunal.

(2.) IT is not necessary for us to go into the chequered history of litigation on the question whether the employees of Government Mint were entitled to the overtime allowance. IT is not disputed before us that the employees of the Government Mint who come within the definition of workmen under the Factories Act, 1948 (the Act) are entitled to extra wages for overtime under Section 59 of the Act. IT is further not disputed that all those employees who have not been allotted Government accommodation and are in receipt of house rent allowance are entitled to commute the overtime allowance by including house rent allowance into the "ordinary rate of wages." The short question before us is whether the employees who are occupying Government accommodation and as such are not being paid house rent allowance are entitled to compute the "ordinary rate of wages" by notionally adding the amount of house rent allowance which they would have got had they not been allotted the Government accommodation.

(3.) THE Tribunal therefore, allowed OA 13 of 1987 in the following terms :