SURAT JARI VEPARI MANDAL Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Special Civil Application is filed by Shri Surat Jari Vepari Mandal and two jari merchants of Surat challenging two notifications issued by the State of Gujarat on dated August 6 1970 and the other dated December 16 1975 fixing the minimum rates of wages under the former notification and revising the minimum rates of wages under the latter notification in respect of the employment in jari industry in the State of Gujarat.

(2.) The first petitioner is an Association consisting of persons engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of jari goods. Petition rs Nos. 2 and 3 are merchants engaged in the trade and business of manufacture and sale of jari goods. The main case of the petitioners is that Akhadedars are not employees as defined in sec. 2(i) of the Minimum Wages Act 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and therefore they are Rot entitled to the benefit of the minimum rates of wages fixed under the two notifications. According to the petitioners the Akhadedars in respect of whom the minimum rate of wages is fixed are job contractors engaged in the process of jari winding which they do on their own machines. The work is entrusted to them on labour contract basis and either they execute the work by employing members of their families or in addition by employing their own labour by paying them fixed labour charges.

(3.) To appreciate the questions raised by the petitioners that Akhadedars are not employees within the meaning of sec. 2(i) of the Act it is necessary to know what the term Akhadedar means and the nature and character of the work turned out by an Akhadedar. Akhadedars are skilled artisans who make jari out of gold silver and copper. The material gold silver or copper is given to them by merchants engaged in jari industry for making jari. Jari industry is a very ancient industry and Akhadedars are the craftsmen or artisans who by several processes ultimately produce jari out of gold silver or copper. It is a cottage industry confined to Surat. It is an hereditary occupation of the Akhadedars and that is the only class of artisans that can make jari. The main processes of manufacturing jari consists of (i) preparation of silver bar; (ii) drawing of silver wirecoarse medium find and superfine; (iii) gilding; (iv) slattening the wire (lametta); (v) dyeing of raw silk; (vi) winding of lametta on silk art silk or cotton thread; (vii) winding of silver thread on bobbins: (viii) reeling: ann (ix) packing. These are highly specialised processes which can be only done by skilled artisans who have come to be known by the name Akhadedars. Nearly 30 0 artisans are directly or indirectly engaged in the manufacture of jari. In the report of the Advisory Committee appointed by the Government of Gujarat for fixing minimum wages in the employment in jari industry it is stated that the persons engaged in the jari manufacture now could be classified as (1) Merchants; (2) merchant- manufacturers; (3) Akhadedars; and (4) employees or workmen who carry out the work at the unit where they are engaged at their homes including adult males females adolescents and children. The merchant generally is one who has no machinery of his own and gets the required processes carried out by Akhadedar by supplying the requisite raw material. The Akhadedar owns the machinery to process the raw material into various stages. After carrying out the processes he returns the finished product jari to the merchant who gave him the raw material at the rate fixed according to the weight of the raw material. There are also merchant- manufacturers who get the various processes done at their units on their machinery and also get certain other processes done outside their premises through Akhadedars by supplying the requisite raw material ar unfinished product and receive back the finished product. Akhadedars are ultimately the persons who either by themselves and with the aid of the members of their families or with the aid of labour employed by them process the raw material through several stages and ultimately deliver the finished product Jari to the merchants. The process involved in the manufacture of jari is not done by any single Akhadedar. There are three categories of Akhadedars viz. Pawthawalas Tanias and Vintwawalas. The work to be executed by each of the three classes of Akhadedars is different. The merchant gives the raw material to Pawthawala for the preparation of bar and the initial processing of the bar. Then he takes back the semi-processed material from Pawthawala and hands over that material to Tania. Similarly he takes back the material to the extent processed by the Tania and then hands that over to Vintwawalas for final processing of jari. It thus transpires that the preparation of bar is done by one class of Akhadedars wire drawing-coarse medium fine and superfine is done by another class of Akhadedars gilding and flattening the wire (lametta) is done by another class of Akhadedars. Dyeing and colouring of yarn winding of Lametta on silk art silk or cotton yarn winding of jari thread on bobbins is also done by the last class of Akhadedars. Thus the merchant steps in at every stage of processing of raw material. In this petition we are only concerned with the rates of wages fixed for Tanias and Vintwawalas. No rates have been fixed by the impugned notifications for the Pawthawalas.