MANAGER, THE SPRING MILLS, LTD Vs. GDAMBEKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This civil revision application raises an important question of jurisdiction of this Court to revise under Section 115 of the Civil Procedure Code a decision of the "Authority" under the Payment of Wages Act. The applicant is a manager of the Spring Mills, Limited, and as such responsible for the payment of wages to the employees of his Mills. In the year 1945 the Mills used to work overtime, and certain of its employees did overtime for which they were paid by the applicant the amount of remuneration according to Section 47 of the Factories Act, which provides that where a worker in any factory works for more than 60 hours in a week or where a worker in a factory other than a seasonal factory works for more than 10 hours in a day, he shall be entitled in respect of the overtime worked to pay at the rate of 1 1/2 times the ordinary rates of pay. By Sub-section (2) of that section it is further provided that where a worker in a factory other than a seasonal factory works for more hours in a week than are permitted under Section 34, he shall be entitled in respect of the overtime work, excluding any overtime in respect of which he is entitled to extra pay under Sub-section (1), to pay at the rate of 1 1/2 times his ordinary rate of pay. The present opponent No. 1, who is a Secretary of the Rashtriya Gimi Kamgar Sangh, and a person authorised to act under Sub-section (2) of Section 15 of the Payment of Wages Act, made an application in the Court of the Authority appointed under Section 15 of that Act for the city of Bombay (Application No. 15 of 1946), on behalf of about 28 employees in the Mills. In this application it was alleged that the present applicant illegally deducted dearness allowance in computing the overtime allowance to be paid to such employees for the periods mentioned, namely from August 1, 1945, to November 30, 1945. Notices were issued to the applicant calling upon him to appear at the hearing before the said Authority on a day fixed in the notice. The matter came up for hearing before the Authority and by its order dated July 9, 1945, the Authority decided against the applicant and directed him to pay the amount of Rs. 218-9-4 to the said employees on the ground that in computing the remuneration for the overtime worked by the employees between August 1945 a November, 1945 the applicant had not taken into consideration and given to such employees dearness allowance at the appropriate rate or at any rate whatever. It is against that order of the Authority that the present application has been filed in revision.

(2.) After the present application was filed, the Authority appointed under the Payment of Wages Act was joined as opponent No. 2. In the prayer clause a writ of certiorari was asked for against the second opponent calling upon it to send to this Court the records of the said case for the purpose of inquiring into the legality of the order passed by it. When the application came up for hearing, it was realised that an application for a writ of certiorari must, in view of the recent Privy Council decision, lie on the Original Side of this Court. Sir Jamshedji Kanga, therefore, submitted that the name of the second opponent against whom a writ of certiorari was asked for may be deleted and that the present applicant was willing to pay its costs. We, therefore, direct that the name of opponent No. 2 may be removed, and the application against it for a writ of certiorari stand dismissed with costs.

(3.) The present application, therefore, proceeds only as against opponent No. 1 and this Court is called upon in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction under Section 115 of the Civil Procedure Code, to revise the order passed by the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act.