DELTA INFRALOGISTICS WORLDWIDE) LTD. Vs. MOHAN K.E.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON I.A.NO.1/2021 This application is filed at the hands of the respondent workman seeking payment of wages in terms of Section 17B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

(2.) Objections are filed at the hands of the petitioner-management stating that the workman is gainfully employed as he owns an auto rickshaw and he is driving the auto rickshaw and self employed and therefore he is not eligible for claiming wages under section 17B of the Act.

(3.) In this regard, learned counsel for the petitioner would place reliance on a decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation /vs./ M.Nagangouda - (2007) 10 SCC 765 to contend that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that "gainful employment" would also include self-employment wherefrom income is generated. Income either from employment in an establishment or from self employment merely differentiates the sources from which income is generated, the end use being the same. It is submitted by the learned counsel that this decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court has been applied by a Division Bench of the High Court of Bombay in the case of U.P.State Bridge Corporation Limited./vs./Maharashtra General Kamgar Union - 2008 (2) BomCR 619, 2008(4) MhLj 297 and further reiterated by a learned Single Judge of a High Court of Delhi in the case of TATA Sons Ltd., /vs./Workmen and Ors., reported in (2014) I LLJ 33 Del.