RAJUS CAFE Vs. INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 9-4-1948, the Govt. of Madras by G. O. No. 1791 Development, made a reference under Section 10(1)(c), Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, to the Industrial Tribunal having its place of sitting at Coimbatore, of an industrial dispute, which had arisen between the workers & managements of hotels in the whole of the Coimbatore district in respect of certain matters, for adjudication. The notfn. did not mention the hotels by name; nor did it specify the matters in respect of which an industrial dispute had arisen. The introductory part of the G. O. referted to a report from the Comr. of Labour, but no further light is thrown on the matter, because that report is stated to be only to the effect that an industrial dispute had arisen between the workers & managements of the hotels in the whole of the Coimbatore district in rospect of certain matters & that the parties to the dispute were unable to arrive at an amicable settlement. The industrial tribunal sent notices inter alia to the hotel owners' sangam, Coimbatore, & the Goimbatore district hotel workers' union. On 10-8-1948 the workers' union addressed a letter to the Tribunal praying for time to prepare their demands. On 14-8-1948 the union filed a preliminary statement setting out the history of the alleged dispute & the demands to be adjudicated upon. The hotel owners' sangam, Goimbatore, filed a counter statement attaoking the validity of the reference, the representative character of the workers' union, & denying that the tribunal had jurisdiction to proceed with the enquiry. Apparently because of the decision of this Ct. in Ramayya Pantulu v. Kutty & Rao (Engineer) Ltd., 1949-1 M. L. J 231: (A. I R. (36) 1949 Mad. 616), the Govt. considered it advisable to issue a fresh reference. How & on what material they acted will be set out later. On 15-3-1949 the Govt. issued another notfn which runs thus :

(2.) Annexure 1 contained a list of 85 hotels situated in Erode, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Ddumanlpet, Tiruppur & Puliampatti, divided into three classes A, B & C, & annexure II contained 11 items of matters in dispute, namely, (1) Wages, (2) Dearness allowance, (3) Bonus, (4) Provident fund, (5) Gratuity, (6) House rent, (7) Holidays, (8) Medical facilities, (9) Best room, (10) Appointment through employment exchange, (11) Dismissal. Thereupon the prior reference was treated as closed, & there were fresh statements filed before the Tribunal by the Hotel owners' sangam & the Hotel Workers' Union. The Tribunal, after an enquiry, passed its award on 17-3-1950, which contained the following provisions : (1) the basic wages of all the hotel workers were to be revised from 1-1-1949 as stated in para. 22 of the award. The hotels were divided into three classes, namely, Class A comprising hotels with a daily turnover of Rs. 250 & more, Class B of hotels with a daily turnover of Rs. 100 & more but less than Rs. 250, & Class C of hotels with a daily turnover of less than Rs. 100. The employees were divided into four classes, namely, skilled A, skilled B, unskilled A & unskilled B & different rates of wages were fixed for each class, (2) a wife & children's allowance was to be paid to all married workers as from 1-1-1949, namely, every married worker was to get an allowance in the three classes of hotels of Rs. 10, &, further, in class A hotels only, there was to be an allowance of Rs. 6 for each child (for two children), (3) bonus was to be paid to the workers according to the length of their service as specified in para. 24 of the award. The arrears of wages, allowance & bonus should be paid in three equal monthly instalments, the first instalment becoming payable in three weeks from the publieation of the award. The method of classification was indicated. By order No. 1390 (Development) dated 6-4-1950 the Govt. declared the award to be binding on the managements of the hotels in Coimbatore district & the workers employed therein & that the award shall remain in force for a period of one year. The award was also duly published in the Fort St. George Gazette. This appln. is by the proprietors of 18 hotels in Coimbatore to quash the reference & the award as being ultra vires & illegal. Mr. K. Bhashyam Aiyangar, who appeared for the appcts. challenged the validity of the reference on several grounds. He also contended that, in view of the events which led up to the second reference, the particular Industrial Tribunal should not have adjudicated on the dispute. He also urged that the award went beyond the reference in certain particulars.

(3.) The first ground on which he contended that the reference was invalid was that an omnibus reference of alleged industrial disputes between several managements & the workers employed by them is not contemplated & warranted by the provisions of Section 10, Industrial Disputes Act. Closely related to this contention is the other contention that the reference is vague & general in that it does not specify the nature of the disputes between the employers & the workmen in each hotel.