PRABHULAL PATIRAM AND CO Vs. INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE four petitioners In this case, who carry on the business of manufacture and sale of bidis, seek a writ of certiorari for quashing the award made by the industrial tribunal on 3 July 1963 in an industrial dispute between them and their workmen which was referred to the tribunal for adjudication under Section 10 (1) (d) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

(2.) THE material facts are that by a notification issued on 30 December 1958 under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Government fixed the minimum rates of wages in bid industry in Raipur division at the rate of Rs. 1. 62 per 1,000 bidis rolled. Before the issue of this notification a bidi-worker used to get only Rs. 1,37 for 1,000 bidis rolled. The notification issued in 1958 was struck down by this Court as invalid and inoperative in Narottamdas v. P. B. Gowarikar 1961?i L. L. J. 4421. Thereafter, the bid manufacturers again started making payment to their workers at the rate of Rs. 1. 37. The State then enacted the Minimum Wages (Madhya Pradesh Amendment and Validation) Act, 1961, to validate the rate of minimum wages fixed or revised by the various notifications issued on 30 December 1958. It was held by this Court in Dayalal v. State of Madhya Pradesh 1962 J. L. J, 987, which was decided on 2 May 1962, that Section 31a of the Validation Act of 1961 was totally ineffective for validating the rates of minimum wages fixed or revised under the several notifications issued on 30 December 1958. Subsequently, the Madhya Pradesh Minimum Wages Fixation Ordinance, 1962, was promulgated fixing the minimum rates of wages in bidi industry for various workers in different areas of the State. This Ordinance was replaced later by the Madhya Pradesh Minimum Wages Fixation Act, 1962, which came into force on 5 August 1962. In the meantime, on 24 July 1961, that is, after the Minimum Wages (Madhya Pradesh Amendment and Validation) Act, 1961, was enacted and before Section 31a of that Act was held to be invalid by this Court, the Government under Section 10 (1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, referred to the industrial tribunal for adjudication the dispute between the petitioners and one more concern of Raipur and their workmen. In the notification making the reference to the tribunal the dispute was formulated thus:

(3.) THE tribunal after taking oral and documentary evidence produced by 4he parties and hearing them passed an award on 3 July 1963. By the award it held, inter alia, that the wages of persons working in the premises at the petitioners' factories at Raipur should be increased from Rs. 1. 62 per 1,000 bidis rolled to Rs. 1. 81 and that these workers would be entitled to get wages at these rates retrospectively from 24 July 1961, the date of reference. In this petition we are only concerned with the dispute relating to the increase in wages. The claim of workmen employed at Ganjpara branch of the petitioners, Prabhulal Patiram and Co. , for reinstatement was rejected by the tribunal on the ground that it had not been established that this branch belonged to the firm, Prabhulal Patiram and Co.