RAM RAJ SINGH Vs. BOMBAY DOCK LABOUR BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition the petitioner seeks direction to the Respondents to register the Petitioner on the Register of Tindel of General Purpose Mazdoor Pool maintained by the 1st Respondents under the Dock Workers (Regulation and Employment) Act, 1948 and the Scheme framed thereunder on and from 1st June 1983.

(2.) The Dock workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (for short, "the Act") was enacted with a view to regulate the employment of dock worker. The Act in particular provided for framing schemes for registration of dock workers and employees with a view to ensure greater regularity of employment and for regulating the employment of dock workers, whether was made to the Port of Bombay in the year 1956 which was only notified as the Bombay Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Scheme, 1956 (for short, "the said Scheme"). The Petitioner was initially not covered by the said Scheme though he was employed with one Messrs. R. Tulsidas & Company, a registered employer since the year 1976 and was working in the Bombay Docks. The Petitioner as well as numerous other tindal employed by and with the 2nd Respondent as well as other registered firms of the stevedores in the Bombay Docks were made to work as temporary workers without being granted permanency or security of employment. Though other workers employed in the Bombay Docks categorised in schedule 1 to the said Scheme were given statutory protection under the Act and the said Scheme and other Scheme framed under the Act, the Petitioner as well as other tindal and general purpose mazdoors were denied job security.

(3.) In or around the years 1979-80 the Petitioner as well as other workmen in the category of tindal and general purpose mazdoors working in the dock area were organised by the Transport & Dock Workers Union to agitate for the grant of security of tenure and other rights available to workers who were governed under the beneficial provisions of the said Scheme. As a result of the negotiations, on 15th September, 1980 an agreement was signed between the 2nd Respondent and the said Transport and Dock Workers Union securing a measure of security and improved terms and conditions for tindal and general purpose mazdoors. The said agreement, inter alia, included provisions for registering the workmen on registers of temporary employees, compliance with the conditions laid down in the Contract Labour Act, payment of daily wages at the rates notified by the 2nd Respondent from time to time, issuance of identity cards to the workers whose names appear on the registered list and equitable distribution of work to the temporary workers whose name appeared on the said Registers.