INDIAN OIL CORPN. LTD Vs. UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd to seek the quashing of the gazetted notification No. S.O. 734(E) dated 21.10.1997, issued by the Central Government under Section 10 of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970 (the Act for short) prohibiting employment of contract labour in respect of certain specified jobs being carried on in the petitioner corporation's establishments.

(2.) The petitioner is a Public Sector Undertaking dealing in petroleum products. It has depots, terminals and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) plants situated in the Northern Region. At the LPG plants, gas cylinders are filled through a mechanical process and thereafter transported to various dealers and sales points for further distribution. The petitioner claims that it hires regular workmen to perform the jobs which are required for filling up the cylinders.

(3.) The case of the petitioner is that it hires contract labour for various jobs which, according to the petitioner, are not perennial or regular in nature. The petitioner submits that the contracts so given to various contractors are not contracts of service, but contracts for providing of services. The petitioner submits that the process of filling cylinders is an automatic process. It is the petitioner's case that as per the prevalent practice in the industry, it uses the services of contractors to look after odd and intermittent jobs, which arise in case of a breakdown or mechanical failure. The breakdowns are normally repaired between 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours and, therefore, no full time job is required for such eventualities.