1969 (2) TMI 175

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..... rred for adjudication, was as follows Is the Company justified in retiring Shri Prafulla Kumar Gupta ? If not, what relief is he entitled to ? 2. The claim of the workmen was resisted by the appellant before the Labour Court on one single ground, viz., that Gupta was not a workman so that no industrial dispute could arise in regard to his retirement. The Labour Court rejected the contention of the appellant and held that Gupta was a workman at the date of retirement and, consequently, gave the award against the appellant. It is this order of the Labour Court that is challenged before us. 3. As the circumstances related above show, the sole question that fell for decision was whether Gupta was a workman on the date of his retire .....

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..... ur Court is right in holding that, because of the main work of Gupta being clerical in nature, he was not employed in supervisory capacity. 5. In the course of the hearing of this appeal, learned counsel took us through the evidence of both the witnesses examined on behalf of the appellant Co. as well as the sole witness examined on behalf of the workmen. The witness examined on behalf of the workmen is Gupta himself. When he was in the witness-box, no attempt was made on the part of the appellant Co. to question him on facts which, according to the written statement if the Co., constituted his employment in supervisory capacity. In Paragraph 2(f) of the written statement, the appellant Co. had pleaded that Gupta used to supervise the wo .....

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..... ager and that the three clerks working under him could not leave office during working hours without his permission. They were also required to send their applications for leave through him. One of the witnesses, who worked as subordinate to Gupta, added that Gupta used to distribute the work among the clerks and that the clerks could not disobey him. He did not, however, make any positive statement that Gupta had any powers to give directions to the other clerks as to the actual manner in which they were to carry out their duties, not did he state that Gupta actually used to scrutinise the work done by the other clerks in order to ensure that it was being properly done. The second witness was the successor of Gupta after his retirement. In .....

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