HYDRO ENGINEERS PVT LIMITED Vs. WORKMEN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE following Judgment of the court was delivered by

(2.) THE appellant company is a private limited company of which the authorised capital is Rs. 1 lac and the subs, cribed capital Rs. 50,000.00. Its business is to manufacture milk cans. According to the Company, it has not been able to maintain, much less, increase, its production owing to the control orders restricting the import of raw materials required for its manufacturing process. THE Company was started in 1942 but except for a few years when it made some profits, it has had to suffer losses during the rest of the years, the total loss suffered up to 1964-65 being Rs. 1,66,912.00. THE Company is a small unit having on its roll 53 workmen.

(3.) THE tribunal took note while considering the demand for revision of scales and their linking up with the index of cost of living of the fact (a) that the Bilgrami award itself had sought to neutralise the rise in the living cost by raising the scales in proportion to the rise in the cost of living by then; and (b) that though that award was made in 1964, the wage scales thereunder fixed had already become unreal in the sense that the index had gone up to 675 by the time the Union filed its statement of claim, that is, 25/03/1967 and had reached the figure of 710 in July 1967 when the award was made. In these circumstances, the tribunal thought that the Union had made out a case for revision, that it was necessary to make the wage scales realistic and therefore to link them up with cost of living index though the Bilgrami award had declined to do so. What the tribunal did, therefore, was to retain the scales fixed by Mr. Bilgrami and treating them on the basis of 538 index of living cost, directed that they should be linked up with the index so that the scales would automatically go up as the index rose or fell. THE award also directed that effect should be given to it as from 1/07/1966, the notice of demand having been served on 17/06/1966. THE gratuity scheme framed in 1961 provided that ten days' wages for every year of service should be paid as gratuity in case of death, retirement or resignation, provided the workmen had put in the minimum period of ten years of service. For the workmen whose services would be terminated by the employer the qualifying period was four years of service. THE tribunal revised the scheme in two particulars; (a) it reduced the period from ten to eight years in case where the workmen has' died or resigned or retired; and (b) it deleted the qualifying period of four years altogether where his service has been terminated by the employer. THE tribunal considered the financial position of the Company and came to the conclusion that though it had been making losses, it was of a fairly long standing, that the losses incurred in the past years were a temporary phase, that the Company's future was not bleak and, though not prosperous, it was in a satisfactory financial position. This appeal by special leave disputes the correctness of the award made by the tribunal.