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TMI Blog1987 (11) TMI 397X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1978 filed an application under section 33C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter called 'the Act') claiming the total sum of ₹ 4,746.40 on account of salary from 1 st of January, 1978 to 30th of April, 1978 at the rate of ₹ 11,86.60 per month. The appellant company objected. The main ground of objections was that the respondent was not a workman. On or about 9th of November, 1978 there was an order dismissing the respondent from service. The respondent thereafter on 2nd of January, 1979 filed an application under section 28A of the Rajasthan Shops Establishments Act, 1958 (hereinafter called 'the Rajasthan Act'). The said application was dismissed on 31st of July 1979 on the ground of limitation. The Labour Court on 2nd of August, 1979 held that the respondent was doing clerical duties and as such was a workman under the Act and he was entitled to ₹ 2,060 as salary from 1.1.78 to 9.3.78. The appellant filed Writ Petition No. 765 of 1979 in the Rajasthan High Court against the order of the Labour Court allowing the said salary. The respondent also filed another writ petition being writ petition No. 1091 of 1979 for declaration tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rned Chief Justice then was in Mcleod and Co. v. Sixth Industrial Tribunal, West Bengal and others, A.I.R. 1958 Calcutta 273. There the learned Judge observed that whether a person was a workman within the definition of the Industrial Disputes Act was the very foundation of the jurisdiction of the Industrial Tribunal. The Court further observed that in order to determine the categories of service indicated by the use of different words like supervisory , managerial , administrative , it was necessary not to import the notions of one into the interpretation of the other. The words such as supervisory, managerial and administrative are advisedly loose expressions with no rigid frontiers and too much subtlety should not be used in trying to precisely define where supervision ends and management begins or administration starts. For that would be theoretical and not practical. It has to be broadly interpreted from a common sense point of view where tests will be simple both in theory and in their application. The learned Judge further observed that a supervisor need not be a manager or an administrator and a supervisor can be a workman so long as he did not exceed the monetary limita ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs., [1971] 2 S.C.R. 758, this Court observed that a workman must be held to be employed to do that work which is the main work he is required to do, even though he may be incidentally doing other types of work. Therefore, in determining which of the employees in the various categories are covered by the definition of 'workman' one has to see what is the main or substantial work which he is employed to do. In The Punjab Co-operative Bank Ltd. v. R.S. Bhatia (dead) through Lrs., [1975] 4 S.C.C. 696 it was held that the accountant was supposed to sign the salary bills of the staff even while performing the duties of a clerk. That did not make the respondent employed in a managerial or administrative capacity. The workman was, therefore, in that context rightly held as a clerk. In P. Maheshwari v. Delhi Administration Ors., [1983] 3 S.C.R. 949 the question whether a person was performing supervisory or managerial work was the question of fact to be decided bearing in mind the correct principle. The principle therefore is, one must look into the main work and that must be found out from the main duties. A supervisor was one who could bind the company to take some kind of d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... checking up on behalf of the employer but he had no independent right or authority to take decision and his decision did not bind the company. In that view of the matter keeping the correct principle of law in mind the Division Bench has come to the conclusion taking into consideration the evidence recorded before the Labour Court that the respondent is a workman and not a supervisor. That conclusion arrived at in the manner indicated above cannot, in our opinion, be interfered with under Article 136 of the Constitution. It is not necessary for our present purpose to set out in extenso the evidence on record as discussed by the Division Bench. Our attention was, however, drawn by the counsel for the respondent to certain correspondence, for instance the letter at page 65 of the paper book bearing the date 14th of May, 1976 where the respondent reported that certain materials were lying in stores deptt. in absence of any decision. It was further reiterated that on inspection of the pieces that those pieces were found cracked. Similarly, our attention was drawn to several other letters and we have perused these letters. We are of the opinion that the Division Bench was right that th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... subsequent law. Under Article 254(2) of the Constitution if there was any law by the State which had been reserved for the assent of the President and has received the assent of the President, the State law would prevail in that State even if there is an earlier law by the Parliament on a subject in the Concurrent List. It appears that both of these Acts tread the same field and if there was any conflict with each other, then section 28A of Rajasthan Act would apply being a later law. We find, however, that there is no conflict. The learned Single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court in Poonam Talkies, Dausa v. The Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Jaipur, (S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1206/85 decided on 9.6.1986) so. That decision has been upheld by the Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court in Writ Appeal No. 231/86. The Division Bench of the High Court in the instant appeal relying on the said decision held that there was no scope for any repugnancy. It appears to us that it cannot be said that these two Acts do not tread the same field. Both these Acts deal with the rights of the workman or employee to get redressal and damages in case of dismissal or discharge, but there is n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that there would be inconsistency or repugnancy between the two decisions, one given on limitation and the other if any relief is given under the Act. We are unable to accept this position, because the application under Section 28A of the Rajasthan Act was dismissed not on merit but on limitation. There is a period of limitation provided under the Rajasthan Act of six months and it may be extended for reasonable cause. But there is no period of limitation provided under the Industrial Disputes Act. Therefore, that will be curtailment of the rights of the workmen or employees under the Industrial Disputes Act. In the situation section 37 declares that law should not be construed to curtail any of the rights of the workmen. As Poet Tennyson observed- freedom broadens from precedent to precedent so also it is correct to state that social welfare and labour welfare broadens from legislation to legislation in India. It will be a well-settled principle of interpretation to proceed on that assumption and section 37 of the Rajasthan Act must be so construed. Therefore in no way the Rajasthan Act could be construed to curtail the rights of the workman to seek any relief or to go in for an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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