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TMI Blog1989 (6) TMI 284X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... services were terminated with immediate effect on tendering him salary for one month in lieu of notice. The salary which was offered to him was ₹ 2,157.92. This is the consolidated salary, which included the dearness allowance. Elsewhere in evidence it is noticed that the basic salary of the respondent was ₹ 1,200 per month. 3. After his approach letter under Section 42(4) of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, hereinafter referred to as the BIR Act was not responded to by the company, the respondent filed an application in the 6th Labour Court at Bombay under Section 79 read with Section 78 of the BIR Act. That was Application (BIR) No. 220 of 1982. In that application he asked for the quashing of the order of termination of his services and for reinstatement with full back wages. It should be noted that the services of the respondent were terminated by the company without assigning any reason, let alone after holding an inquiry into any act of misconduct or otherwise. In fact there is no allegation to be found in the material before us that the respondent had committed any act of misconduct which could be visited with the penalty of discharge or dismissal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dent himself has described the nature of the work performed by him as the preparation of negatives on printing contact camera, preparation of big size film on Lucop stop and repeat machines, reduction and enlargement of designs or tracings on camera and developing, fixing, drying and washing of films. These duties which have been deposed to by the company's witness as well as by the respondent, were held to be not sufficient in nature and of that quality which could impress upon the work done by the respondent, the character of technical work. So holding, the Labour Court allowed the respondent's application. But only partly. The Labour Court directed the reinstatement of the respondent with continuity of service. However thinking that in the meantime the respondent must have fruitfully occupied himself somewhere, the Labour Court awarded only 50% of the back wages. 7. Against this order of the Labour Court, the company preferred an appeal, being Appeal (IC) No. 62 of 1986. The respondent was also naturally, aggrieved by the refusal of the Labour Court to award full back wages - a rule in all orders of reinstatement. Hence he also preferred an appeal, being Appeal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pervisor', though it has become a part of the English language, means a person who oversees the work of others. It means 'overseer'. A person can be said to be a supervisor if there are persons working under him, over whose work he has to keep a watch. He is that person who examines and keeps a watch over the work of his subordinates and, if they err in any way, corrects them It is his duty to see that the work in an industrial unit is done in accordance with a manual, if there is one, or in accordance with the usual procedure. It is not his function to bring about any innovation; it is not his function to take any managerial decisions, but it is his duty to see that the persons over whom he is supposed to supervisor is the fact that there are certain persons working under him. If a person is doing any work which does not require him to look after or inspect or examine the work of persons who are subordinate to him or working under him, that person can never be said to be a supervisor. In other words, the supervision is necessarily by reference to the persons working under a supervisor. 9. Supervision as correctly understood does not extend to supervision of pl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Prior to 1953, the words manual or clerical were to be found after the word unskilled in the above definition. In other words, then an 'employee' meant any person employed to do any skilled or unskilled manual or clerical work ... The words manual or clerical were deleted by Bombay Act 63 of 1953. The proviso of exclusion, which begins with the words but does not include , was inserted by the same Amending Act of 1953. But after 1965, the words drawing basic pay (excluding allowances) were introduced in place of the other words. The words one thousand rupees per month were also introduced by Maharashtra Act 47 of 1977 in place of the words five hundred and fifty rupees per month . As things stand today, therefore, if a person is employed in a technical capacity drawing a basic pay (excluding allowances) exceeding one thousand rupees per month he would cease to be an employee. 12. At this stage, we may as well refer to and dispose of an argument advanced by Mr. Singh that the word skilled does not include technical . Persons employed in a technical should be excluded from the skilled employees as contained in the main part of definition. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ord English Dictionary, Third Edition, defines skill , among others, as practical knowledge in combination with ability, cleverness, expertness. Correspondingly the word skilled is shown to mean of persons : possessed of skill or knowledge; properly trained or experienced . Skilled work is that work which requires or shows skill. The meaning of the word technical , in so far as it is relevant for our purposes has been given by the said dictionary as follows :- Belonging or relating to an art or arts; appropriate or peculiar to or characteristic of a particular art, science, profession, or occupation. From these meanings given in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, it can be said that skilled work is some work which requires expertise or special knowledge about the work which is to be performed. Technical work requires a training or knowledge or expertise of a particular art or science to which that work pertains. It is not difficult to infer from this that a person engaged in a technical capacity must have some knowledge imparted to him or must have acquired some knowledge either by training or by experience to do that particular work. A person who has ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... up, etc., shots would be technical and not merely the work of an artist. It was also pointed out that the nature of the work of a cameraman indicates that for the successful creation of reality, he depends upon the display of his imagination and the exercise of artistic faculty and the application of technical knowledge as distinguished from manual dexterity. We may add that if a person merely applies manual dexterity, he may be a skilled person, but not necessarily a technical person. 18. Fortunately for us, there is a judgment of the Supreme Court discussing the meaning of the word technical and that is in Burmah Shell Oil Storage and Distributing Co. of India Ltd. v. Management Staff Association, (1970-II-LLJ-590). Here again, the discussion was with reference to the definition of 'workmen' under Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act and further the discussion was with reference to the different types of work of the supervisor and a person employed in a technical capacity. However, there is guidance available in this judgment to understand the meaning of the word technical . In paragraph 15 of the said judgment, the Supreme Court mentions that there is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by us so far should be sufficient for the purpose of understanding the meaning of employment in technical capacity . A person can be said to be employed in a technical capacity if he is, in the first place, skilled person. He must have enough dexterity to discharge the work assigned to him with speed an accuracy. He must also have a skill, but that skill is not a general skill like that of a weaver who is in charge of several looms in a textile unit. Such a weaver is skillful enough to look after several looms at one time and if something goes wrong he is able to attend to and mend the same. But he is not employing any knowledge or art in which he has been trained or in which he had some education, formal or otherwise. In the case of a person employed in a technical capacity, the application of a knowledge of a particular craft or work is the distinguishing feature. With the assistance of the knowledge he possesses, a person employed in a technical capacity is able to bring about a result which could not be brought about by a person, howesoever skilled, who is to perform routine, repetitive work. A person employed in a technical capacity has to use his judgment and has to find ou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fore, even if such a person possesses any technical knowledge or expertise, the work done by him could not be said to be of technical nature as correctly understood. However, as we have said earlier, there is not only no evidence to show that the respondent's work was of technical nature, but there is, in fact, no evidence to show what the nature of his work was. 22. We may briefly refer to some of the duties performed by the respondent on which the company relied to show that he was doing technical work. Mr. Kallapur, examined on behalf of the company, has stated that the respondent used to take trial of fresh incumbents and to advise about their suitability, but as Mr. Singh has rightly pointed out, the hiring of incumbents was not a regular affair and merely because the respondent, being the senior person, tested the suitability of the new recruits, it cannot be said, and it has not been said, that it was a part of the respondent's regular duty. Similarly, testing of materials was not of such a regular nature as to impress upon the work such as the preparation of negatives on printing contact cabinet or camera, preparation of big size film on Lucop stop and repe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e has also stated that the camera operator had to determine the suitability of the films. We are, however, relcutant to give a finding on the basis of these so-called admissions that the respondent was employed in a technical capacity because there is no evidence at all before us giving details of the nature of the work performed by the respondent. What has been mentioned by the respondent may be by way of opinion about himself. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he could have admitted that he was employed in the technical capacity because it is not brought out that he understood the real meaning of the word 'technical'. In fact the respondent has denied in his cross-examination that he was working either as a technical worker or technical employee. It is, therefore, impossible for us to hold from the so-called admissions that the respondent was employed in a technical capacity. 26. We are also of the opinion that the fact that some of the concessions and the perquisites, which are normally given to persons employed in a technical capacity, were given to the respondent is not relevant or material in holding that he was employed in a technical capacity. It may be, the e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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