UTTAR PRADESH STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD Vs. CITY MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE State Electricity Board prays that the order of the Additional District Judge and the prescribed authority passed under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, be quashed.

(2.) THE State Electricity Board is a body corporate constituted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh under Section 5 of the Electricity (supply) Act, 1948. In October 1963 the board took over the electrical undertaking of the Jhansi Electricity Supply Company, Ltd. It has also reemployed the persons working in the company. The board fixed the salary and dearness allowances of these persons at rates mentioned in annexure A to the petition. Generally the salaries of the employees ware enhanced in comparision to what they were being paid previously. In April 1965 the president of the Jhansi Electricity Supply Workers' Union instituted an application under Section 13 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1938, on behalf of various workmen. It was alleged that the workmen were entitled to payment of dear-food allowances in accordance with the Government notification dated 6 December 1948 learned by the State Government under Section 3 (b) of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act. It was claimed that the State Electricity Board was paying them a less amount by way of dear ness allowances, and each of the employers was entitled to the difference as deducted wages. Various amounts were claimed by each of the employees for the period 1 November 1963 to 31 March 1965. The application was con-tested by the board on inter alia the ground that the salaries and other conditions of service of the employees were fixed by the board under Section 79 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948, and the notification under Section 3 (6) of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, was not applicable to the State Electricity Board.

(3.) THE prescribed authority repelled this plea and decreed the claim in part. It dis-missed the balance of the claim on the ground that it was barred by limitation. The petitioner-board want up la appeal under Section 17 of the Payment of Wages Act. This appeal was partly allowed on 20 April 1966. The Additional District Judge held another part of the claim to be barred by time but the main plea of the petitioner-board was rejected and the finding of the prescribed authority that the notification under Section 3 (b) of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act governed the petitioner-board, was upheld.