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TMI Blog1957 (1) TMI 36X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isputes for adjudication to the 2nd Punjab Industrial Tribunal, Amritsar, respondent No. 1, who entered upon the said references and issued notices to the appellants to file their written statements. The appellants in Civil Appeal No. 335 of 1955 filed their written statement on March 31, 1955, without prejudice to their contentions that respondent No. 2 was not competent to refer the disputes for adjudication by respondent No. I and that respondent No. I had no jurisdiction to entertain the reference. The appellants in Civil Appeals Nos. 333 and 334 of 1955 were called upon to file their written statements on or before April 23, 1955, which they did raising the same objections as to the competency of respondent No. 2 and the jurisdiction of respondent No. 1. On April 14, 1955, however, the appellants in all the three appeals filed writ petitions. in the High Court under Art. 226 of the Constitution against, inter alia, respondents Nos. I and 2 asking for writs in the nature of prohibition restraining respondent No. 1 from proceeding with the references, writs in the nature -of certiorari directing respondent No. 1 to transmit the records of the proceedings for being quashed and w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 0 of the Act had also been urged and ordered the stay of proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal. The appellants filed on April 18, 1955, applications before the High Court for leave to appeal, to this Court and for stay of further proceedings before respondent No. 1. Notices were issued by the High Court to the respondents in those applications but stay of further proceedings was refused. The appellants having come to know of the order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court on April 18, 1955, on the writ petition of the Saraswati Sugar Syndicate Ltd., filed petitions on April 19,1955, for review of the orders dated April 15, 1955, dismissing their writ petitions in limine. In these petitions for review the appellants, with a view to bring their applications within the ratio of the writ petition of the Saraswati Sugar Syndicate Ltd., alleged that their counsel had inadvertently failed to raise the contention that s. 10 of the Act was ultra vires the Constitution. The High Court was prepared to issue notices to the respondents but was not prepared to grant the stay of further proceedings with the result that on the request of the counsel for the appellants the said petit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... certiorari quashing the said reference and writs of mandamus and/or prohibition directing the State of Punjab to withdraw the said reference from the Industrial Tribunal and prohibiting the Industrial Tribunal from proceeding with the same. Petition No. 65 of 1956 had been filed on March 21, 1956, by five workmen of. the Indian Sugar and General Engineering Corporation. Ltd., carrying on an undertaking in the name and style of the Saraswati Engineering Works. A notification had been issued by the State of Punjab referring the disputes which had arisen between them and their workmen to the 2nd Industrial Tribunal and one of the matters thus referred for adjudication was whether the workmen dismissed or discharged after July 15, 1955, should be reinstated. The petitioners were temporary hands employed by the Saraswati Engineering Works in place of the permanent workmen who had been dismissed or discharged after July 15, 1955, and they, in the interests of themselves and 200 other employees who were in the same category, apprehended that if the Industrial Tribunal ordered the reinstatement of the permanent workmen who had been dismissed or discharged, they would be out of employment. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ial occupation or avocation of workmen. Section 2(k) defines an " industrial dispute " to mean any dispute or difference between employers and employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non employment or the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour, of any person. Chapter II of the Act sets out the authorities under the Act and they are (1) The Works Committee, (2) Conciliation Officers,(3) Boards of Conciliation, (4) Courts of Enquiry, and (5) Industrial Tribunals. These are different authorities with different powers and the purposes for which they are set up and their functions are prescribed in the Act. The Works Committee consists of representatives of employers and workmen engaged in a particular establishment and is constituted in the prescribed manner in order to promote measures for securing and preserving amity and good relations between the employers and workmen and to that end to comment upon matters of their common interest or concern and endeavour to compose any material difference of opinion in respect of such matters. The Conciliation Officers are appointed by notificat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed at, the Conciliation Officers have, as soon as practicable and after the close of the investigation, to send to the appropriate Government a full report setting forth the proceedings and steps taken by them for ascertaining the facts and circumstances relating to the dispute land for bringing about a settlement thereof together with a full statement of such facts and circumstances, their findings thereon, the reasons on account of which, in their opinion, a settlement could not be arrived at and their recommendations for the determination of the dispute. If, on a consideration of such report the appropriate Government is satisfied that there is a case for reference to a Board or Tribunal., it may make such reference. The Boards of Conciliation to whom a dispute may be referred under the Act are enjoined to endeavour to bring about a settlement of the same and for this purpose they are, in such manner as -they think fit and without delay, to investigate the dispute and all matters affecting the. merits and the right settlement thereof and are also empowered to do all such things as they think fit for the purpose of inducing the parties to come to a fair and amicable settlement of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... period of operation under sub-section (3), the award shall continue to be binding on the parties until a period of two months has elapsed from the date on which notice is given by any party or parties intimating its intention to terminate the award." Chapter V contains provisions in regard to the proof strikes and outs and declares what are illegal strikes and lock-outs for- the purpose of the Act, Chapter V-A was introduced by Act XLIII of 1953 and contains provisions in regard to the lay-off and retrenchment of workmen. The other provisions of the Act are not relevant for the purpose of this enquiry and need not be referred to. It follows from this survey of the relevant provisions of the Act that the different authorities which are constituted under the Act are set up with different ends in view and are invested with powers and duties necessary for the achievement of the purposes for which they are set up. The appropriate Government is invested with a discretion to choose one or the other of the authorities for the purpose of investigation and settlement of industrial disputes and whether it sets up one authority or the other for the achievement of the desired ends depends ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he appropriate Government it may set up a Court of Enquiry for the purpose of enquiring into any matter appearing to be 'connected with or relevant to an industrial dispute. The Court of Enquiry will enquire into those matters and report thereon to the appropriate Government within six months from the commencement of the enquiry. That report will furnish materials to the appropriate Government for finally determining whether the industrial dispute shall be referred by it for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal. It may be that the report of the Court of Enquiry discloses circumstances under which the appropriate Government considers that it is not necessary to refer the industrial dispute for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal. In that event the matter will end there and. the appropriate, Government may await further developments before referring the industrial dispute for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal. If,, on the other hand, the materials embodied in the report of the Court of Enquiry disclose circumstances which make it necessary for the appropriate Government to refer the industrial dispute for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal, the appropriate Gover ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rentiate -between the parties ,similarly placed and circumstanced in every respect and in the absence of any rules made in this behalf the appropriate Government has unregulated and arbitrary powers to discriminate between the parties; that there is no rational basis of classification providing different treatment for different parties and it, is open to the appropriate Government, in one case, to refer the industrial dispute to a Court of Enquiry, and in another case to refer it to an Industrial Tribunal and that the procedures before the Courts of Enquiry and before the Industrial Tribunals are different, the one before the Courts of Enquiry being less onerous and less: prejudicial to the parties than that before the Industrial Tribunals. It is submitted that the reports of the Courts of Enquiry are quite innocuous whereas the awards of the Industrial Tribunals are binding on the parties and are. backed up by sanctions behind them, and in regard to the, periods of operation also, it is open to the appropriate Government, in one case to reduce the -same to an extent which will make them negligible in point, of time whereas in another case it is open to it to extend the periods eve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... scope of the Act as also the various industrial disputes which may arise between the employers and their workmen which may have to be referred for settlement to the various authorities under the Act. The achievement of one or the other of the objects in view by such references to the Boards of Conciliation or Courts of Enquiry or Industrial Tribunals must guide and control the exercise. of the discretion in that behalf by the appropriate Government and there is no scope, therefore, for the argument that the appropriate Government would be in a position to discriminate between one party and the other. Apart from the references to be thus made to the Boards of Conciliation, Courts of Enquiry or Industrial Tribunals, the appropriate Government is also given the powers to prescribe the period of duration of the award made by the Industrial Tribunal. Normally the award is to be in operation for one year from the date of its commencement. The circumstances, however, may have changed between the date of the reference and the date of the, award and power is thus given to the appropriate Government to reduce the said period and fix such period as it thinks fit. Power is also given to the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... community in general may be benefited. This is the end which has got to be kept in' view by the appropriate Government when exercising the discretion which is vested in it in the matter of making the reference to one or the other of the authorities under the Act and also in the matter of carrying out the various provisions contained in the other sections of the Act including the curtailment or extension of the period of operation of the award of the Industrial Tribunal. We are, of opinion that there is no substance in the contention urged before us that the relevant provisions of the Act and in particular a. 10 thereof are unconstitutional and void as infringing the fundamental rights guaranteed under Art. 14 and Art. 19 (1) (f) and (g) of the Constitution. If these provisions are -thus intra vires there is no need to consider the further argument advanced before us that these provisions are so inextricably interwoven with the other provisions of the Act or are such that the Legislature would not haven acted the other provi- sions of the Act without, :incorporating the same therein. It is next contended that the Industrial Tribunals to whom industrial disputes are referred for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... st Iron Works, Ltd.( [1949] A.C. 134.), while referring to a claim for reinstatement by a dismissed employee as one of the typical matters in dispute between employers and employees: " The jurisdiction of the Board (Labour Relations Board)............ is not invoked by the employee for the enforcement of his contractual rights: those, whatever they may be, he can assert elsewhere. But his reinstatement, which the terms of his contract of employment might not by themselves justify, is the means by which labour practices regarded as unfair are frustrated and the policy of collective bargaining as a road to industrial peace is secured. It is in the fight of this new conception of industrial relations that the question to be determined by the Board must be viewed." After quoting these observations of the Privy Council, Rajamannar, C. J., pointed out in Shree Meenakshi Mills Ltd. v. State of Madras ([1951] II M.L.J. 382.) at p. 388: " The essential object of all recent labour legislation has been not so much to lay down categorically the mutual rights and liabilities of employer and employees as to provide recourse to a given form of procedure for the settlement of dis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rial Tribunals, while pronouncing awards in the several industrial disputes referred for their adjudication by the appropriate Government, lay down certain principles or rules of conduct for the guidance of employers and employees, does not amount to exercise of any legislative power and no question of their being invested with. any legislative powers can arise. So far as delegated legislation is concerned, abstract definitions of the difference between the judicial and the legislative functions have been offered (See the distinction drawn by Mr. Justice Field in the SinkingFund case ((1879) 99 U. S. 700, 761 ; 25 L. Ed. 496, 516)), but they are of little use when applied to a situation of complicated facts. The function of a Court is to decide cases and leading jurists recognize that in the decision of many cases a Court must fill interstices in legislation. A legislator cannot anticipate every possible legal problem; neither can he do justice in cases after they had arisen. This inherent limitation in the legislative process makes it essential that there must be some elasticity in the judicial process. Even the ordinary courts of law apply the principles of justice, equity and g ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as it permeated the whole of the Act, the Act as a whole should be declared void. This argument is sought to be supported by drawing our attention to certain decisions of the Industrial Tribunals which have included hospitals, educational institutions And even the business of Chartered Accountants within the definition of " industry " contained in the Act and it is urged that if such non-industrial concerns are also included in the definition of the term industry. ", the Act is certainly ultra vires Entry 29. We need not pause to consider whether the decisions of the Industrial Tribunals above referred to are correct. That will have to be done when the question is raised directly before us for adjudication. The fact that the Industrial Tribunals have put an extended construction on the term " industry " is no reason for holding that the definition itself is bad or ultra vires. what we have got to see is whether the definition of the term " industry " is within the legislative competence of the Central Legislature and on a prima facie reading of the same we are not prepared to say that the same is- unwarranted or not covered by Entry 29. A wrong ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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