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TMI Blog1964 (8) TMI 95X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on this, the petitioners raised an industrial dispute, which was ultimately referred by a notification (a copy of which is annexure B to the application) of the State Government dated 28th July, 1962, for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal, which by its award dated the 31st of August, 1963, A copy of which is annexure C to the writ application, has answered the two questions, referred to it for adjudication, against the workmen. 3. In the notice of retrenchment given to the 15 workmen concerned, it is stated; You are informed that due to the introduction of the Employees' State Insurance Scheme at Dalmianagar, 83% of employees have been covered under the Scheme. In the circumstances, the maintenance of Dalmianagar Hospital with the present complement of staff has become partially superfluous as it has now to cater to the needs of only about 17% of our employees. The two points of dispute referred by the notification (annexure B) are; (a) Whether the notice of retrenchment given by the Management on the workmen named in Annexure 'B' is proper and justified? (b) Whether curtailment of medical facilities, available in Dalmianagar Hospital ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the Employees' State Insurance Scheme (for the sake of brevity referred to is the E. S. I. Scheme) does not give adequate medical benefits to the dependants of the employees or their other family members. The scheme has not established any hospital of its own at Dalmianagar, and the existing staff maintained at the hospital of respondent No. 2 is not at all adequate and hence retrenchment ix neither necessary nor justified. The two doctors and the hakim are workmen and the industrial dispute had rightly been raised by the Union on their behalf also. 6. The Tribunal in its award has recorded the following findings: (i) That the two doctors and the hakim are workmen within the meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act. (ii) But no industrial dispute can be raised by the Union of the Factory workmen on behalf ol those 3 technical medical officers. (iii) That since the introduction of the E. S. I. Scheme at Dalmianagar, there has been a considerable reduction of work in the hospital of the Management; case for retrenchment has been made out by the company; the retrenchment was proper and justified and was not motivated by any extraneous consideration or in a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... medical staff on the ground it proposes to do, it is necessary to read first the relevant provisions of the Act and the regulations framed thereunder. 10. Section 3 of the Act provides for establishment of Employees State Insurance Corporation, which shall consist of the members enumerated in Section 4. Section 26 provides for creation of an Employees State Insurance Fund to be held and administered by the Corporation for the purposes of the Act, and Section 28 enumerates the purposes for which the fund may be expended. Contributions to the fund are payable both by the employers and the employees as provided in Sections 38 to 45 of Chapter IV of the Act. Chapter V deals with Benefits and starts with Section 46 which reads as follows: (1) Subject to the provision of this Act, the insured persons or, as the case may be, their dependants shall be entitled to the following benefits, namely,-- (a) periodical payments to any injured persons in case of his sickness certified by a duly appointed medical practitioner (hereinafter referred to as sickness benefit): (b) periodical payments in case of confinement to an insured woman certified to be eligible for such paym ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nded to his family) his family shall be entitled to receive medical benefit only of such kind and on such scale as may be provided by the State Government or by the Corporation, and an insured person or where such medical benefit is extended to his family, his family shall not have a right to claim any medical treatment except such as is provided by the dispensary, hospital, clinic or other institution to which he or his family is allotted- or as may be provided by the regulations. (2) Nothing in this Act shall entitle an insured person and (where such medical benefit is extended to his family) his family to claim reimbursement from the Corporation of any expenses incurred of any medical treatment except as may be provided by the regulations . Section 59 enables the Corporation to establish and maintain hospital or to enter into agreement with any local authority, private body or individual in regard to the provision of medical treatment and attendance for insured persons and their families in any area and sharing the cost thereof. Section 61 says; When a person is entitled to any of the benefits provided by this Act, he shall not be entitled to receive any similar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion 72 of the Act unmistakably indicates that only those benefits which are payable in terms of money and not in terms of medical treatment or service or the like are the only ones which cannot be discontinued or reduced except as provided by the Regulations, but the said section does not debar discontinuance or reduction of medical benefits which are not payable but are merely given or rendered. I am not prepared to accept this argument, In the context of the other provisions of the Act, I am of the view that the word 'payable' has been used after the word 'benefits' to cover all kinds of benefits payable in the form of cash, kind or service, and the expression 'benefits payable' is not meant to include only benefits (a) to (d) provided in Section 46 and exclude benefit (e) from the ambit of the Regulation. In R. L. Arora v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1964 SC 1230 Wanchoo, J. has said at pp. 1236-37. Further, a literal interpretation is not always the only interpretation of a provision to a statute and the court has to look at the setting in which the words are used and the circumstances in which the law came to be passed to decide whether there is s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... edical treatment except such as is provided by the dispensary, clinic or other institution to which he or his family is allotted or as may be provided by the Regulations. I do not accept this argument as correct. The prohibition contained in the latter part of Sub-section (1) of Section 57 is with reference to the medical benefit, its nature and scale, as may be provided by the State Government or the Corporation under the Act, and does not bar such benefits which a worker gets from the Management by way of customary concession amounting to a condition of his service, 14. Even assuming that I am not quite correct in interpreting the expression 'benefits payable' used in Section 72 of the Act, I am of the view that the Management cannot discontinue or reduce the medical benefits which the workers have been getting from it by way of customary concession having the effect of forming part of their service conditions, as there is no provision in the Act which entitles the Management to discontinue or reduce such benefits or disentitles the workmen from getting them. Section 61 debars a person entitled to any of the benefits provided by the Act from being entitled to receive ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o cater to the needs of about only 17 per cent, of the employees, and not to the other 83 per cent, their dependants and their family members. In this connection, it has arrived at the following findings: (i) The number of outdoor male and female patients in 1961-62 was 62,097 as against 77,892 in the year 1959-60. (ii) The reduction in the number of indoor patients is insignificant. (iii) The work in the pathological department has gone down, In the end, the Tribunal has concluded that there has been an over-all reduction of work and, therefore, a portion of the staff has become surplus. Although many inaccuracies of figures and impropriety of conclusions drawn by the Tribunal have been pointed out to us during the course of the argument, without examining them in any detail, I would only state that the approach of the Tribunal to this aspect of the matter based only upon the introduction of the Scheme has been faulty and illegal. The contribution of the Management to the E. S. I. Scheme amounting to about 21/2 lakhs of rupees is not for the purposes of the medical benefits only but for the purposes of all kinds of benefits enumerated in Clauses (a) to (e) of S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ultimately close its hospital even though there may not be one established by the Corporation or there may not be adequate medical benefits available to the persons concerned. 16. In the result, I hold that the award dated the 31st of August, 1963 (annexure C to the application) is illegal and ultra vires and must be quashed. I accordingly allow the application and, in exercise of the authority of this court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, set aside the award of respondent No. 1 and hold that the two points of dispute referred to it for adjudication must be answered in favour of the petitioners and against respondent No. 2 that is to say, answer to question (a) would be in the negative and that to question (b) would be in the affirmative. On the facts and in the circumstances of the case I would make no order as to costs. Vaidynathier Ramaswami, C.J. 17. I agree to the order proposed by my learned brother Untwalia J. I do not, however, agree with my learned brother with regard to the interpretation of Section 72 of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948. I am of the view that the expression Benefits payable should be construed to mean only those b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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