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REGISTERED No. D-28

The Gazette of India

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

NEW DELHI, FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 11, 1949

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF LABOUR

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 11th February, 1949

No. LR-3(29).—In pursuance of Section 17 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (XIV of 1947), the Central Government is pleased to publish the following award of the Industrial Tribunal, Calcutta in the industrial dispute between Messrs. Assam Oil Co. Ltd , Digboi and their workmen including those employ- ed in the Kerosene Tinning Factory at Tinsukia.

Reference No. 1 of 1918.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL, CALCUTTA

IN THE MATTR OF AN INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE BETWEEN MESSRS. ASSAM OIL COMPANY LTD. AND THE WORKMEN INCLUDING THOSE EMPLOYED IN THE KEROSENE TINNING FACTORY AT TINSUKLA.

Present: Sri S. P. Varma, Chairman,

Central Industrial Tribunal, Calcutta

For the Company—Sri Satish Sen, For the Union - Sri S. K. Basu, Advocate,

Sri Vidyakar Sarina, Pleader, Dibrugarh, Sri S. K. Pramanik, Representative

AWARD

By an order No. LR. 3(29), dated 10th August, 1948, the present Industrial Dispute between M/s. Assam Oil Company Limited, Digboi and their workmen including those employed in the Kerosene falling factory in Tinsukia was referred to this Tribunal under Section 10 (1) (c) of the Industrial Disputes Act with the following Schedule consisting of 20 Issues:

(1) Minimum basic wages of Rs. 40. Revision of pay scales with adequate time scale within its scale or grade, and proper classification of workers according to the nature of their jobs, and abolition or revision of test system.

( 101 )

(2) Dearnesa allowunce to bo mueased to Bs. 60 in cash according to the increasing coat of liviiig up to Es. 100 and 60 per cent of wages between Rs. 100 and Es. 200 and 30 per cent over Ea. 200 to Es. 250 and allowance for workers with large families.

(8) Bonus—four months pay us Bonus for 1944, 1945, 1946 and for 1947. (4) Production or efficiency bonus

(6) 40 hours a week without any loss in earnings. (6) Security of service with provision for compensation in case of reduc- tion of staff and wrongful dismissal or victimisation and re- instatemont of workers who ha.ve been wrongfully or unjustly dis- missed or victimised.

(7) Leave: One month privilege leave for all workers and employees alike,, 15 days casual leave and festival leave on gazetted holidays.

(8) Gratuity or termination benefit of one month's wage for each year of service on the termination o£ service.

(9) Provident fund to be democratically managed by a joint committee including equal number of workers representatives and with proper rules pneuring full payment of the Company's contribution earned by the workers during their past sorvicos.

(10) Payment of adequate compensation to the families of the deceased workers who lost their lives as well as to the workers injured in the firing during the last lawful strike.

(11) Sympatiiotio consideration of specific oases of workers who have suffered losses in employment and property due to any action taken against the i ecommendation of the Conciliation Board

(12) In case of filling up new vacancies preference to be given to old workers who were un]ustly deprived of their jobs in the last lawful Trnde Dispute and against the finding of the Conciliation Board (18) Eevision of Standing Ordeis.

(14) The programme of construction of quarters to be speeded up and finished according to a plan within a short and fixed peiiod with adequate provision for modification of unhealthy or undesirablo type of quarters and for proper water and electtic supply. Minimum house allowance to be increased 1o Us. 10

(15) Medical grievances including full pay for the first four days of sickness as specified in the Assani Oil Company Labour Union's letter dated 17tb March 1047 and amplified in its rnemornndum No. AOC/GM/106, dated the 12th December 1947.

(16) Extension of educal ionai facilities as specified in the Union's letter of 17th March, 1917 to the Management.

(17) Departmental and minor grievances including acting allowances, increasing pressure of work by reducing requisite number of men, travelling allowanco elc. aa specified in the Union's letter "No. AOC/GM/106 of 9th January 1948 and recorded in tho joint committee meeting.

(18) Apprentices grievances as specified in the Union's letter of 17th March 1047 and in their memorandum.

(19) Wages for involuntary unemployment to laid off workers.

(20) Same wages, pay-soales, irreducible minimum pay and allowance for involuntary unemployment and service benefits for Company'* contractors' labour.

Before taking up the issue it is necessary to mention -i lew farts to under- stand the various issues m the proper perspective. The Assam Oil Company which will henceforth be relerred to us tho "Company" was formed in 1899 by the Assam Jtailways and Trading Co. Ltd. who operated collieries in tho Margherifa-Ledo area, md who owned Hie Dibru-Sadiyti ltailway (now part of the Assam Hallway) 1 < t iko over and work mining leases in Margherita and Digboi held by thorn ID id others The continued efforts, of the Company did not result in an OCOUOIUK le\el r,t oil production being obtained. Dividends were rarely paid. Tb( management of this Company was taken over by the Burmnh Oil Company in January 1921 The A. O. C. Labour Union which will henceforth be referred to as ("he "Union" was formed on (he 22nd February, 1938. This Union was rpgipteied on Hie 7th of \ngust 1938. The Union presented bomu demands ou the 27th July 19-38 A Court of Enquiry waa appointed on the IGth of August 1988 under section 3 of the Trade Disputes \ob 1929, under the c hanmanslup of ,7. C. LTiggins, Inquire, U C S, Com- nissioner, Assam Valley Dnision. Tho Court continued its sitting irom iugust 29th, till October 20th, 1038. In the meantime October but formally otter the 21th of October us a protest against certain acts, of victimisation against one o£ its leading members. The report of ihis Committee wat. published in the Assam Q-ovornmeiit Extraordinary Gazette on the 10th of February, 19fK) Before and after the publication of the report a pertain number of workers arc alleged to have been dismissed A General Stnke commenced on the 3rd April, 1939. It was originally meant to Ja&t for a week only but i( continued in the absence of anv Rehtlement botu-i en the paities The \ssam Kifles were posted along with the police force from the 3rd April, 1930 Various incidents took place between tint, dale and (he date of ihe appointment of ihe Committee of Enquiry presided ovoi by Sir \l. "N. Mukherji, Kr on the 10th July, 1930. One of those incident* was Hie firing on the night of tho 18Hi April after 9-30 P.M. in which 3 people lost their lives. This mutter will be d"att with Inter while dealing with Is^ue Vo. 10 Before tho Committee p'rosidod over by Sir M. y. Muklierp submitted iS report, a Concihalion Board witli Mr K. K. Hajtira, I.C S , Dmtrict and Sessions Judge, Assam Valley District, was appointed on the 20th of July, 1939 under thc Tiade Disputes Act 1929 for the promotion or a settlement of the dispute and to explore the possibilities* of settlement regarding anv outstanding matters still in dispute between the Company and iho Union. This Conciliation Board submitted its repo'rt on the 8th Angus! I(W9 The Committee of Enquiry's repori was submitted, however, on" the 25th of November, 1939 with a, Note by \[L- (i D "U'alker, Member, on the lbt December, 1939 The reports of the Conciliation Board and that d the Committee of inquiry were published in the Ass'iin Gazette on the 20Hi Dt'cembu¹, 1939 A Special Ordjnnnco was jtromulgated by the Government on the 104 THE GAZETTE OF LXDIA EXTRAOKDINABY, F E B. 11, 1949

representations made ij the Compam .snd the (Tovernmeut irom time to time. Geneiai Demands wore submit tod OR the 17th March 1947 [Exbt. 15 (li] an 1 (. ompam s jvph tl:ei-eto was given On the .">Oth April, 1947. A ,L>int Xi troiifitii'p C'ommiife ron>istiug of lepresentatives of the Union and the (\)Uip;ciiy has been iunrt;>imn<_> all along according to the agreement made Ittw.en Mie lejjie^eiiiativos oi the Company and the Union at a meeting held 'ii Kt July 1047. An .A hi^.ii_\ \\ dfji'u Committee was formed on the 6th Xovemb'T, 1917. Departmental Works, Committees were formed presumably under tliK Industrial Disputes Act by agreement on the 20th March 1948. Negotiations with the Compam closed on the 6th September 1947 and then on the 17th February, 1948, the parties agreed in the presence of the Regional Labour C immispione; to refer the matter on the various issues to a Tribunal. This Tribunal was appointed on the 10th August, 1948. Notices were issued to the parties on the 17th August 1948 to submit their Memorandum. The Memorandum of the Union was tiled on the 1st September 1948 and the Coiirpany tiled its Memorandum with statements and annexures in the 9th September, 1948. The actual hearing of th?*case began at Digboi on the 15th September, 1948 after the Chairman had inspected certain places there. The sitting continued from daj to day except 2 with regard to books of references, it was thought necessary to resume the healing ai Calcutta, which was done on the 4 th and oth of October when the Pujah holidays intervened. The bearing was again resumed on the 20th Oetobe'', 1948 and continued till th^ 26th November, 1948. On the question of re-in statement of certain employees, some tnjdence^had to be taken and as it was not possible to send Mr. Tolib, the Regional Labour Commissioner (i < ntial) on Commission as agreed -it one time hi twe( n lite parties, he bein? I"- > ekewhere, the Chairman had to co to i>\a:ii'ty the witnesses at Digboi U Disboi the hearing was resumed < n the 61 h December, 1948 and was eo'iHud'>d on the 11th of December, 1948. Affidavits have been filed on b "":nli ot twenty-four persons Twenty-five tvitii'-^ s wer.' examined and one hundred and fo'ty-eight exhibits taken in. i'he junjiber ot workers in tlie Company are ,t little above seven thousand and five hundred leaving out the covenanted employees.

ISSUE NO. 1:—Minimum basic wages of Rs. 40, revision of pay scales with

adequate time ncale loilhw its s^ule or grade, and utoper

classification of workers arcouling to the nature of their jobs

and abolition or revision of tut system.

This issue is one i-f the moct importaut issues in the dispute. The Union demands a minimum basic wage of Us. 40 in place of the existing minimum wage of Us. 19-8-0 or annas twelve a day. It also demands a proper revision ,if pay scales with adequate time scale within each scale and grade. "By this they want that the scale of inn of various categories of employees, unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled, should be eorrepondingly revised on the basis of a higher minimum by ghing a general increment to all workers, that is, by raising the minimum of each and e\ery pay scales adequately, with due regard to the nature of work, skill, effort or responsibility required, occupa- tional dangers involved, and dirty or uncongenial or unhealthy nature of the occupation, etc. as well as to the high wage level of the petroleum industry in comparison with other industries all over the world. They rely chiefly upon the observation of Sri Omeo Kumar Das. a member of the Digboi Court of Enquiry, 1938, under the head "General increase in wage" at page 28 of the said report. They also want that the test system should be abolished.

The Company on the other hand refers to the pay scales which is attached to their statement as Annexure X. They point out that annual increments have been provided for both unskilled as well as semi-skilled workers. They say that every job has a value which has been carefully assessed accoiding

to the relative skill necessary or responsibility demanded. These grading*! cannot reasonably be altered merely hv length of service. Referring to the observations made by the Union from the lf>f!8 Court of enqnirv report. tht-v say t h at the conditions have chansed since then and the total emoluments paid by the Company have greatl-e increased. They further allege thai thei-- site of p a y m e nt compares favourably with those of other industrial c'lm-ems in India. Ho far as the test system is concerned, (hey submit that Trade I esf s are the fairest means of promoting ab'e artisans. The a l t e r n a te e proposed by the TTuion is promotion by decision of Depaif 'nenial Offices, ;>nd it was to abolish complaints of unfairness in this t h if the test system was introduced T h ey maintain tliat the tests were no+ "designed to block promotion of d.'v rv- ing and efficient workers to hiehrr yrade- of p m" "On the !r;>n- the'. accelerate progress of those men who have si.ill b^ short-cutting a time s c a l e ." The chief question in this dispute is whether the minimum '•:' "'tn-s 1i a day paid to the unskilled workers slvrVl he raised In the C M -. -A 1 ;u- m e n t, Sri Basu appearing for the Union submitted that what lias to he ^ vn by flie Tribunal is whether Us. I9-H-0 is adequate for living ^,ago anfl l ow far the allowances given by the P o m p n iv affect Lbe minimum v i g e. Hi • i-cl t h at the real wage/of the workers co>i,isi of the quantities 0° food, I n n , n ig accommodation. Hotlung, fuel, liohlhiu and o i l ur commodities v hich h" "Vi buv v i lh his m'vjey wage. In support thereof, he referi ,1 to Se"tio,> 9 of 'h>- Conciliation and Arbitration Act of Australia, d-ihd Cih J.mu !••_,. VUP, wb-ir it was said t h at the earn ings of children and v H< -hould not he taken into consideration. Collective A g r e e s, .its published In 7.L.O. flej-eva 1P-'i0 at pa"e !52 He also referred to i Koto by Sri ^ r.li.itf-ic]—- of S|-af"-h( > Laboratory, Calcutta, on Hie scidc of ni'uinnim ^ - -e for th • J ,•(• i , ( , , u ti 12> pa^-es ,176-379 (February 19-°>7) In Iv. B. Chattoiri l!n iy .ui I < h-mmeHi. Year Book of Labour Statisiics (9th Issue) 10-1."-10 .H r

All these aspects of the question h a ve been taken into consideration b? the m e m b e rs of the P ay Commission, who "av in para. 51 of the report as

follows:

"After some discussion, the majority of the members agreed t h at Its. .>., per mensem (made up oi basic solars, pins dearnew allowance would be a fair m i n i m um wage at a cost of living index of 260.'

L a t er on, this figure 260 was corrected and they aclm.ttect tlutt they refill; m e a nt 285 as will appear from Appendix T' of t h at report. Sri Pen a p p e . i mv for S e Company savs t h at in dealing with the question of n n n n n um ba.ic w a -e the deamess and other allowances must be taken mto account io p u l g, whether the total m i n i m um remuneration for the unskilled worker ,s adequate

or not.

The principle on which the m i n i m um basic wage should be fixed is now more or k>ss settled on account of the various reports and a number of A ^ a r as on this subiect. The broad principles are t h a t :—

_ (a) Every normal worker should be paid a ' w a ge which .s " ^ q u a te ,0 ( ' promote health, efficiency and general well-being, i.e. be should get a living wage.

_

(b) Workers should be paid "t rates more or ^" " J " ™ ^t^ l d° rates offered to workers in occupation oi a similai character.

(c) Tlit minimum wage should not differ markedh 1'ioin the ruling rates iu the country, i.e. the national income pi i capita.

rfhe-,e principles emi be leathered ivom the following-

(1) Indian Working Climb by Radha Eamal MnKlioijee, pages L,'>2. lbO and 230.

(2) Award in Imperial Chemical liulustiies Uispute bv Tubticc Divafcia in Bombay Government G-a/etie, dated 10th November 1947 (Part I ).

(:)) Adjudication in Messrs Mukand Iron & Steel Woiks Ltd.,—Labour

(Jazettc, November 1045, p. 208 at ps 211 and 212.

(4) I'av Commission Report, paragraph* 4(>-/>l (pages 2" to 34).

(.">) Engineering Tribunal Award, Calcutta Ga/ette Kxtraordmary, dated 3rd Jul.v 194B (pages f)57-5Q3).

((i) Jute Tjibuual Award—Ihsue NO. 3 (p \%r 12 ind onwurds).

This in.liter recenilv onmo up before the Engineering Tribunal to -whieb I huvo innde a reference and in that case (he basic minimum wixpe TV IS (ived at. Rs. h() with Its 25 JJ.A ])vmg.7ig Uif, total U> IU r>:>. ID this connection T may --ilso nienlion that th > (ifflienil Manager of the Assam Oil Company was oood .'•nouKh i" coine ,md mal.e a htatoment on the 21th September 1048 UfA betoje tht- Tribunal ,,{ Di^boi m vlnch he stated that (he Company was prcpaied to „„; Its 'U) -IF. I).sic TM.". :in

Profit

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U N S K I L L ED

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Present

Proposed

I M P R O V E RS A ND AKTINANfcj

I M P H O V U BS :

TCh. A. p. por dajr K a. A. P- p er day

IHI yorti¹ . . 14 0 ,, "1 1st your . . . 10 0 „ 2 nd y e ar . . I fi 0 „ 2 n d ' y o ur • . I SO „ 3 rd y e ar . . 18 0 „ .Sid your . . 1 10 0 „ 4 th y o ar . . . 1 10 0 „ I 4 th year . . 1 12 0 „ 5 th yowl . . 1 12 0 „ f i U h y o ar . . I 14 0 „ flth yetir . . I 14' 0 „ dtli y e ar . . 2 0 0 ,. 7 th y e ar . . . 2 00 „ 7 th year • . . 2 20 8 th y e al . . . 2 20 „ J H U i y o ai . . 2 40 „

A R T I S A N, O U A DE 1 :

lwt y o ur . . . 2 00 ,, 1-t your . . 2 20 „ 2 nd yetir . . . 2 20 „ 2 nd your . . . 2 40 3 rd y e ar . . 2 10 „ 3rd y e ar . . 2 fi 0 4 th your . . . 2 (1 0 ,, 4 th y e ar . . . 2 80 ;, 8 th your . . . 2 80 ,, Slli your . . 2 10 0 fith ye>ir . . Z 10 0 ,, tUj, your . . 2 12 0 „ 7 th y e ar . , 2 12 0 „ 7 t l i \ e ar . 2 14 0

A w H i H, G B A DB 2 :

ltd, y o ur . . . 2 80 „ 1st y e ar . . -j, ]0 0 „ 2 nd y e ar . 2 12 0 ,, 2 nd your . . 1 14 0 3 rd j ear . . 3 0 0 „ 3rd y e ar . . . , 1 20 „ 4 th your . . . 3 40 ,, l td your . . . 3 60 Gth ysiip . . ;1 S 0 ,, ,">(]i \oui' . . . '.I 10 0

A U T I H A N, Q E A DB 3 i

1st y e ar . . . 3 80 ,, IHI. v ow . . 3 10 0 „ 2 nd y e ar . . . S 12 0 „ 2ti.l your . 3 M 0 „ 3 rd your . . . 4 00 ,, Sir! your . . 4 20 „ 4 th y e ar . . . 4 60 „ 4 th yeor/ . . . 1 80 •Gth y e ar . . . 4 1 20 ,, 5 th y e ar . . 4 14 0

A P P R E N T I C ES

l ut y e ar . . 0 14 0 p er d ay U t y o nr . . . 13 0 p er d ay 2 nd yotu . . 10 0 „ 2 nd y e ar . . 1 B 0 „ 3 rd year' . . . 12 0 „ 3 rd y e ar . . . I (I 0 4 th youi . . I -1 0 „ 41 h y e ar . . . 17 0 S th y e ar . . 1 fi 0 „ 5 th y e ar . . . 18 0

Y O U T HS ( O T H E tt T I T AN \ P P R E N T K ' E N)

O v er 14 yoarn of a ge A H. O-ft-0 , . A H. 0-1 1-0 poi-clHy O v er Ifi yours of a ge AH. 0-10-0 , . A H. 0-12-0 p er d ay O v er lfi yearn of a ge A s. 0-1 1-0 . . A s. 0-13-0 p ur d ay Ovor 17 y e a rs of ape An- 0-13-0 . , As- O-lfj-0 p er d ay O v er IS y e ws of tige An. 0-14-0 . . R e. 1-0-0 por d ay O v er 19 yearH of ago A s. 0-1G-0 . . He 1-1-0 p er day O v er 20 yearn of a ge R o. 1-0-0 , . R e. 1-2-0 p er d ay

C L E R I C AL FAY S C A L ES

G r u d ol R s. 50 G 00 -6/2—120 . I t s. HO— 5—100—0/2—130 G r a de II R s. 1 0 0— 1 0— 50 . . R h. 110—10—lfiO G r a de TTT R s. 1 6 5 — 1 0— 10G . • Ra. 175- 1 0 - 2 05 G v a d o IV R s. 2 05 - 2 2 0 / 2 3 0 / 2 4 0 / 2 50 . R B. 210/225/235/245/255 TypiHt R a. 6 0 — 5 — 1 0 0 — 1 0 — 1 50 . R s . 7 0 — 5 — 1 1 0 — 1 0 - 1 60 H e ad T y p i at R=i. 165—10—196 . . Rs. 17G—10 205 C o m p t o m e t er O p e r a t o rs R s, 8 0 - 1 0 — 1 50 . K H. 90 10 -160

SCHOOL NTAFF

H. * 31. E Schouh :

A. Noi MIHI t'fi.ntxl non Untnrulalm oi Wai nculala-, without I I'ainnig :

Rx. 50 4 HO 5/2 l-JO RH

B. NOI'JIUII trainod MJ.II iiMilatui mid T A., T Hr¹ , without limning ;

Hi. Q0 5 1)5 5/2--120 R, fiO-5 1 0 5 - 5 /2 1311

U. B. A. OT B !v. w itKoufc trmnhiSJ, nv I. A , I. Su. with training :

RH. 0 0 — 5 - 95 r

D. B. A., B. Si w ith truiilmsr :

R j. 70 1- I.'O 10 140 ft NO -,". - 1 3 0 - - I 0- 150

E. ileaiiinaytoj-i/[-feHiliMntinssiw :

Jl-i. 210 22.")

R^ 100 -1(1 I "iO R i. 110 10 — 100 Re.. KtS 10 105 R 175 10 ,'Or, RH. 205 -220 Second M-uioi i / J l ni i tw\o, :

R s. 00 10 1 (0 R-* 100 10 150

Prhnui i/ hcJiovlb;

Gum t.annul mid nou-Miiti n uliito without liaimiiH :

U- ir,-3 7T> -,12-b', K^ r,:>- :t_ b5—fi/2—05 A. Noi'mtil tuniKid mm- "VTali icnlatf i und ^ l u ti IUIIHIU \Vitliont t i n i n i uy :

R i. 50 4 - !)0 5/2 120 1{ HO -4 100—5/2—180

B. N or i il tirtmfid Miftt iculntii^: Rs. 30 5 (""> 5 ' j - 1 20

lit. 00 5—105—5/2 — 130

0. N ot tlpj)ll(ul)ll) D. Not lt|>iilieill>lf E. l l e a d ' . ia tm , (Jn id i t in -,o^*

it-t ion in -140 HM. no - io ifi(i

Hri Hen ±oi t!'ij (yonipiuiy told me that the j.m;v of Medical Depni'lment BtafF (wlucli is io be loinid. in Ariiicxiir

Present

Promoted

Probation (fi monilm) li^j. HO tli"n Probtitlon (tt montliB) RH. 65/- then Re 00—fl—W0—Ji.B.—10 110 nidi. TU. 05—G—95—E.B.—10—Hfi mnx.

T he pa-v ol 11K olhrii- m e m b e rs of IFie M e d i c al D e p a r t m e nt oonaidafhifj tlio n a t u re oi the \ OTII, MLCIUS to be n d e q u n te a nd no c h a n ge IR s u g g e s t e d.

N . B .— A ' t J 't i i k u al i i L c r c nn n t" t r i ll be g i v tn at l hr h mt wli< it l l h ' ir i n e rt m a l ts w i ll be i i o r m u l hj d m.

8o Xuv us th" chiM-iifipiitioi) ot the servicoa is concerned, it wiU bnve to i^e remembered tluii in tln^ ci/neern it is nnt. onlv one kind ot work that is bein^ carried out but thnt, -vnrious Jtmd^ oi ^OIINS ;ue l>('in>> carried out,. The clnssi- fication made bj. the Oonipnuy seeinfa to be quite good. 1 do not wmit to interfere •with it.

Tent System.—So fm an 1he <]i]pslion of abolition of the Teat Kysrfin is concurncd, \ have not been ablo to apjjreciato the grievances of the Union against thiu oTstem One o[ ihe chief reaBon given by them for the abolition of the test system in tlut it mrn ^.'nd to favouvitism But if the test w.steni is abolished, Ihe position 1o my mind will be worpe. I therefore see no reason to ncccdo to thf requect of the Union on Ihis point

ISSUE NO. 2.—lltanirns Allowaiire io be, inrrraifid Io R,t. 50 in ranli according to the inertasing cost of living up Io RH. 100 and 50 per cent, of iougex between Rs. 100 and Ha. 200 ami 30 per cent, over R>> 200 to Rn 250 and allowance for morLers with large families.

On the question of Dearnesa Allowance, the Union's demand is tbafc the Denrnegg Allowance should be raised to EB. 50 in cash and 50 per cent, of

(• imiRt he B, T. or normal trained).

wages should be given as Deamess Allowance to employees drawing between EH. 100 and Us. 200 per month and SO per cent to those drawing over Ets. 200 and* up to Its. 250. The Union bases thib demimd ol Rs. ">> as minimum in cash.

At present tlie Company pa\s Deal nest, Allowance ut the flat rate of Es. itJ/8/- plus Its. 9 as absent d'epeudciiu alk-wanee at the rate of Its. 3 for every absent dependent limited LO "'J. The Compam also claims that the value of the food concessions comes to about I'm. 12/3/3. Leaving as'de the question of House Allowance, which is mentioned ax Eh. -1, the Company alleges that thv amount of Deamess Aliowunce claimed ;s high. They WOTS prepaied, ho*, i-^cr, to increase the tut a I mouthly earnings of a worker getting the minikin,!! wage M KB. 61 by raising the min'mam bubic wage to lis. 30 i.t ., Tie. 1-2-0 pel¹ <3u\ .iii.l fond concession at- ;i nju'uliVv cash allowance of Us. 30 ; long vitli T(s -1 Ti >u-^ Allowance. The question • /!' Clearness Allow- ance Iris lo bv c(-""^iilert u along wilh the total onioiuiiieiits ihitt will accrue to the worker. The Union's d^uii'pid based on full ,nid complete neutralisation of th" ilse in pv cs iu.ee 1!I'W is .m; no-'-oftl.i • to the Coi'.uam. The simplest wa\ oJ ;]< cidiii^ the question of Deai'Dom Ai]iiv,aiicj it> lo take into cousidora- tioii the pay of 1939. thf> l lebcid cost of 'i'ing indev and whether the wage cut due tu the riso in the cost of living shiiiild be neutralised to iln- fullest extent. K gjJii'= C^mmitteo found that Ihe ^a\ ol! Annas -'12/ was adequate but Si'i On^'yo Kumar Das gave a dissentient report. The Assam Govern- ment ('id not ]v wever consider it safe in the abscic * of .mv r.'lii.'ic daia as to thi cost cl h\ing to come to ai-."\ concin^ion. So far us Digboi is concerned we have not got any cost of living inde.-: ho that we could compare the extent of the rise iu pu< e^- iVoru lO'ln to J04S. We have, however, got a report of a Fact rinding Committee unpointed bv the Central f-Wcmment obout the Cost of Living in AEerah^rifa, a few miles tn the east <>t Digboi (published in the Gazeti<- of Imlin, E\-traordinarv, -rulv 1. '9H—pager, <,):):-, in 9501. 'where the\ fame (o the co'i'-lusion that taking the base of 1939 as 100 "the cost of living in Ihf Collier-, area in Assam had risen by 200 points approximately over the 100 base of 1039." Sri Seu for tile Companv evidently was under a misapprehension when he argued that th*-- cost of living index in* that area was only 200, because in -i subsequent sentence it has bepu said io clear the posit'on that:

"To compensate for tiie rise of nearly 200 per cent, in the eo>st of living in the colliery "area in Assam, the Committee recommends that 1]2J per cent, dearness allowance on the new basic wage should be given to the underground colliery workers in Assam."

As I have mtjitioned in the previous issue, the cosi of laing index in Assam is mentioned as 200 per cent, above basic 100 of IP."fl:, vide Labour Investi- gation Committee's Main Eeport. Sri Pramanik however has submitted a note which shows that the cost of living index is much higher than what has. been mentioned in the Mergherita report or Tiege's Main Eeport. He has given facts and figures based upon enquiries made at Digboi. These figures are there no doubt and they have not been contradicted by the Companv but I find it difficult to act upon them when 1 find that they have not been tested. So. in the absence of iv-.x authentic report on the subject, it can approximately be held that the cost of living index in Digboi is somewhere near 300, only a little higher thar what the Pay Commission was dealing with. The question then arises whether the workers are entitled to a full compensation of ihe rise in the cost of living. On this point the Award given in ihe Textile Labour Association versus Ahmedabad Mill-owners Association reported in T.abnur Gazette May, 1940 (Page 780) may safely be referred to. This observation-

wns made by the ],nduslrifll Court of Bombay presided over by Hon'ble Mr. Justice H. V. Divatia as Presidi-nt and Sri G. S. Bajadhyaksha and Sri B, K, Dalvi, were members. Textile Labour Association in that dispute urged" that the lull oxlent of the eoRt of living should be neutralized by the employers and that the workers wore entitled to tr if, because the present level of wages did nut come up In the living standard In reply to it they observed after making some comments: —

"We me also not prepared as at piesent advised, to accept the principle that the employers owe any duty to the employees to make good lo them, Lo the full extent, the rise in the cost of living merely by reflion of the far-i that (here has been such a rise."

After lefprriug to the observations of Si] Walter Lavton in the article in tho Economist, dhted 201 h January 3040, Page 88, where lie says:

"Ore or two piaetieul suggestions have emerged from the current difl- cuE^ions, The one tlu:1 "-. <)i paiiitular impottanoe in the nuaiiu ^fiategv of the price pjoblcni in that wage ineiea^es, should not c o me i n to p l ay u n t il t he c o ^ -t of l i v i ng l i ft •, r i s en a b o ve i ls m i n i- mi jn bv m o re t h an I c e r t i u ii m i n i m um n u m b er of p o i n t s. A ny

'iiJeiri|)t to rise all wage-rules in proportion to the rise in ths err-u ot living must he self'-defealing."

Thev "ny—

"In \icw of these considerations we fire of opinion that the woikora uc.uld not bo entitle d to a rise to the full extent of the rise in tht ("mt of living unless ii conlfl he shown thai tlu induntrv has buTo/Hed ;o a i-orresiiondirp e\tcnt by the ver\ eoDti'igency v\hieli has occnsKned the rise."

This principle has been accepted b^ rt number of Tribunals coming rafter this observation. Various Awards have been referred to but my attcniion was chiefly drawn to the Pay Commission's report by the Company. On their own shoeing they have been paving something like Es. B8-0-B pies over and above the basic wage of Its 10-S-O per month. Tt must also be rem( mbered that thr. basic wage of Es. 19-8-0 hap, been raised by me from Annas 0-12-0 to Ee 1 2S per dicin that is to sav Es 30-1-0 in a month of 26 average work- ing days. It would riot be right to reduce tlio Deamess Allowance ^bioli the workers have been getting. On thu contrary in viaw of the approximate cost of living, I would allow them Beamed \llowance according to the following table:

All workers who will bo in receipt of Basic pay of:

(a) He. 1-2-fi to Ec. 1-14-0 per day will get, Bo. 1-7-6 per day or Es Sfl-3-0' per month.

(b) Rs 2 to KB. 8-12-0 per dnv or Es. ,"0 to Es 100 per month will get, Ee 1-8-6 per day or Es. 09-13-0 per month.

(c) Es. i to Es. 4-14-0 per day or above Tts. 100 and up to Es 1o0 per mouth will get, Ee. 1-10-0 per day or Es. 42-4-0 per month.

(d) Abovo Es. 150 por mouth will get, Es. 45-8-0 per month.

This will be payable in cash Therefore, it necessitates the abolition of the complex system, which has been adopted by the Company, "Rut the Company should maintain the foodstuff nhop and continue to run the same on the basis of no profit no IOSR principle. The cost of maintaining the shop should be borne by the Company. This arrangement should come into force within two months of the publication of this Award.

T y d iE No "> - IIOI.UH Fom Monihi' Pay n, Bonn* for 1 9 1 4, I'll,") LO1G a nd

/or 1947.

Tti t he -written statement the TTnion ileninuls Join uonih-.' pn\ is bonus for the veais 1941 1945, 1940 and 1047. They further refer 1o the- fart t h at the Region il Labour Commissioner (Central), Calcutta, ieoommencfed to t he Company in March 1947 to rrnnt 3 m o u t h s' wages as bonus, one m o n t h 's wanpq each for the veare 1944, 1945 and 1940 On t h at basis it comes to 4 months vi igts including file year 1947. T h e\ ftu'thci¹ sav aftti referring to other incidents "Therefore om demand toi one m o n t h 's wages for each of these years only since 1944 is very modest uncl there is no valid rt ason why it should not be grunted " They also SHV thfil, tho demand also necessarily' means thnt for t he year 104ft nnd afterwards Bonus should be fixt d on 1 fair basin accordingtoprofits.

• t he q u e s t i on t h at b o n us f or t he p a st A e a rs c o u ld no I. be g r a n t ed on a c c o u nt

the date <.r -! n-iV v.as the 6th il ii U 1947. Fie also sa\s that the claim ia hit bj See. i'.t OL (.lie Industrial ! 'impute Act. 1947 and that the claim for bonus for 1944 is b a md by limitation With retard to 1945 and 1946 Sri Sen urges that the c;inse of action wit(> regard to these y a rs arose before the present enactment came into force. -He further Sios that certain a m o u n ts h a ve g r . i .e to t he < r o ^ e r n m e nt in t he s h a pe • >! I I M WI • T ax a nd if t he V v f i l c e is a re e i i t i i l ed to b o n us OM t he g r o ss L v w ' .' • t h en t he

Government canno-*- be made to disg'^'je il"> same is they are ''ot i party. He fii'^hei contend*; that the question of b ' p us has to he c o n s i d e r ed \> i +h ' II • \ v ] "t. s t r u c t u re T h ey a re n ot p e n , i r a te f r om t he

normal va"i s-tieeMie and' it the workers mv well paid, the -question t>f bonus Joe. nor ari-.e as I i,ms • n kind of wage. Also, two considerations arise for pa;. n><.; bomis Firstly, rhat the Ihing wage is not sufficient and secondly that 1'i,> employes hnve conbibeted hy their labour to the ircreased profits of the particular v >,ir "Before tiie \v. ivkers can claim bonus, it must be shov u that J!ie I h uc nage is ,ioi >- iiifir-u nt to enable them to save money for extr.'ordijiai"* expenditure and confihufed spec-'ficatlv to tht urofits of thr give" ye;¹¹' Bonus v. as never paid by +he Company. It was not therefore one of the tenns of the contract and thU Tribunal raav bv its award b> granting the b *n is mike it a fmii of the fonti'aef. If asljed to make it a contract for 1M4, tb T'^bun-U will have to see whether the law allows it. Under Sec. 19 of industrial T>; imies- \r-t the nov ft fins imposed will come into opt ration from the date to be specified bv the CJ-ovnTiineiit ainkiua; the \ward bindino- for one Tea.- He did not accept th . ,'bseicafon of E. ~M Nviavutty-T. published in the L.bo>ir 'l.izt tte T>ei "inh^v 194.", -naee '.'50, sayins; that the observations wer^ made in a case under Thile 81 (A) of ili2 Defence of Tndin, Rules.

To becin witli 1 must sav it onee that tht argument advanced by Sri Basu that th^v are '•liiimns: realiv four months' bonus for 1947 although very ingenious, i^ no¹ acceptably to me. The lanmias;e up,ed bv them in their written statement not only at one place but at several places makes :t clear that they were claiui;no bonus for each vear at the rate of one month's pav. Two questions are to be considered no'T. Firstly, whether a bonus should be allowed and secondly to what extent This necessarily requires a discussion as to what bonus is. I cannot do better than quote a passage from Nsnavirlty -T's observation reported in the Bombav Labour Gazette December 1043 (at -oases 250-253):

"The old idea of controversy between capital and labour is now com- pletely obsolete, and co-operation between all engaged in busi- ness-concerns is deemed to be""the only salvation for industrial enterprises. As n result of this fundamental change of attitude a movement has been t-tarted in the world of economic thought in the present century, which has led to the idea of co-partner- ship in industry and to profit-sharing between the capitalists and organisers of industry on the one hand, and their workmen on the other. No longer is industry looked upon merely from the business point of view but also from the human side."

He further observes that "the Standard "Vacuum Oil Company should have no h^ifHJ-in whatsoever in ke: ping Indian workmen in its employment contented and happy bv "ranting them a very small share in the unusually large profits made by its Company in India during war-time". He made these observations after saying that "the contention that labour had no right to share, in the extra profit* made by a business-concern was accepted as axio- matic some fifty years^ ago and more. During the 19th century, when the principle of "Laissez faire"' held the field, there existed a state of competition amongst the employers as well as amongst the employed."

l l lh L.\ZKITL 01 1\U1 \ 1 VJ K\()]iDI]SiAUY, FJUi 1J ifllM 113

Mi Justice. ( hiiol(i in iL milu~>u uiJ dis|juti between (lit* ' j m e i al Motors (ludifi) J AJ and its empluN et s, obseised

It 1M U L U O Sl U U 1 IH l -i l l l\ J L L L p Ud _|_ 1 1 I I p ll l i oU t il it T l lL p i o l l ts a lO m ad p us i b le b t i l ,. e o n t i i b u t um i Ji L i i i li n p i ^ al u id l d o ur m a ki m n n\ j i u t i L i ^m n i u l u - i ti >, ml ) i l n uk n is a l s< c o n c e d ed t l mt I n b o ui I ns n i i ^ l it to sh ue m n i f i ri s fd p i o l i ts t l tu HL i n n dc

in un p u l i< H im p t n od

( B o m b uy ( i o \ c m m c n( ( m z e t tc I 'm I T, <>L ]\la> 2s 1 0 4 2, at O IL b o t t om of p a go 1000 )

Sn H o b e ii B i o o r a t i o ld m 11n dispute b e t w i in t he Homba-j "Cloclne b u p p ly and l i a m w a js C o, L i d, a nd its i i n p i < ) t t <- o b s c i wd

T( is t he u s u al p i t c l ut w h en boiiusr s nn p md to th( c m p l o \ e t -, of a ( onipan> o ut ot piofats, to p ay UILUI in t e m is ol t he m o n t h ly v, i g e n, h a lf n, m o n th t ,, o ne m o n t h ' b, t wo . i i o m h^ w t if L •. us t he

cuse may be But tlio clmm that iu inhue the v u allow- IIIK e s h o u ld be i te i t ed as p ai { ot \KI<,LS in t he c j l c u l i i t i o ti of bomi'-eH H in my o p i n i on u j c u s o u a b lo i nd i-liould bf e o i K ' t d td "

( l i o m b ij ( T o v t i n m c nt G i7i t tc L \u l o i d m ai y, 1'ait I, iintcd lOtli Itily 1942, p a i n t J i a ph 25 il pugo 2/5Jf! )

A ] H i o uhh oiip,uiall) b o n us \ \ as < in k i d d ed u s o it of ti-giaiia p i i j m e ni to M(iiL.ois t in ^ c n c i nl h e nd oi opiuioti is t b il w o i k us who l i ui c o n t n b u l ed t h ur l a b o ui to rds, t he i inking ol p i o ht wbould bi p l a n t ed n b o n us It will be < v i d u it i i om t he H H i t im ol t he \ w a i ds t h ai m d u ^ i ml T n b u n a ls m Tiidio a re n ow in lijicd to d i h rl p i u n u nt oi bot u¹- V I I LK the. ( o m p a ny s p i o nl will i n a b le t l u ni to jiu> (lie - n ut This iJt( \ do n ol o nb i ( o u i p un ( i n ns j n o t it siifhon lit ("o ( liable jt to pn) b o n us t ht I n b u n al m ay l e t] i n o h i i ed \m\ m i^ be j u s i j t i td l oo m ^Minting six b boniib n ot o nh t oi t he | in | ost oi s u p p l L m e i i t i nn t in n -wige^ M b u ' h, in Tndi i is n ot ( o> hurh mil sntfio m io nicer t h e ir ( vpenw B foi The p in | o se rf liviiii, a d e c e nt lift h ut i l si foi Th< ])iitpo e of q l i d e o i n ,, ( h e ir h t a i ts i nd of m d u c n iK to p ut niojc i n e i ^> m t h en w o i ks \M11I I o u ( o n ( ed i i i nd T I IL u n d er ivinR p i i n c i p le m ay j i ot be. pwltt sharing nt, it is t e c b n i o n l ly u n d c i s t o od b ut t he woikeis (UL entitled to particTipnte m the piospcntv of the ' ompany \ have b'en Awaids in wlnyh no boiius was allowed wluu no piofif, waw made by (lie ('ompmiv ind m mum (HSLF, bonua ha been J^IMII whon appreciable piodt has been made

I Ihcrefoie do not UGILL with tht MOW of Sn Sen who mged upon me to postpone the con si dpi ah or of bonus in view of (he iai t Ihnt the Cential Govern- ment is now eonsidemifi the "piont-shrumg" bcheme I thtrcfoie, dnecfc that the Company should pay one mouth s basic wageu as bonus for 1947 to flll monthly Iatod workers who aie m lcceipt of basic wayes below Es 300 and to all d"ilyiai<_d woikers at the iate of 2G dayt basic wages and bn\e woiked tor 55 i-ei oen( ot tho woilung dnyh at lenbt The authorised leavo will count as attendanefi The futuie puvmtut of bonus will depend upon future finaneial position of the Company

The nest question is whether bonus for the years ]044, 1045 ind 1945 should be granted. There are various Awards in which past bonus was not granted. These are:

(1) Engineering Tribunal Award, Calcutta Gazette Extraordinary, Tart T, 3rd July 1948 (P. 579),

(2) Angus Engineering Works, Ltd., Calcutta Gsizotte July 8, 1048 (Part I)—(P. 600).

(3) Sponces Ltd., (P. 1U92 at 1895)., Calcutta Gazette, dutod 21st October 1948.

Agreeing with these Awards, therefore, I will give them bonus at the rate mentioned above for the year 1947 only but reject tho same for tho years 19'ld, 1945 and 1946.

La SUB No. 4r'.—Production of Efficiency Bonun.

The Union says that the Committee of Enquiry recommended in 1938 that the Company should introduce efficiency bonus and lhi.it recommendation has not been implemented. The observation of the Committee ou the question o£ efficiency bonus is as follows:

"Possibly the Company might consider the introduction of an "Efficiency Bonus", which has the approval of tho Boyal Commission" (Page 22).

There was no discussion of tho question beyond this. Ther> made this obser- vation after having said "tho Labour Union could only ask for a profit sharing bonus as n concession and lot as a right. Tts grant is a n.utter for the Company alone (o decide. We are not prepared to influence it >'n any wu,j''.

From the arguments advanced by tho parties T understand that by 'Produc- tion "Bonus' is meant that a certain average amount ot production is fixed by experts mid if a labourer produces more in a producing department thtm the average then he gets a bonus. Efficiency bonus is moimt tor non-productive departments chiefly. 8ri B. K. Pramrmik in the course of his argument s^id that labour leaders were not always in favour of pioduetion or efficiency bonus- But he suggested that ihe scheme should be in line with Tata's scheme, a copy of which bus been filed. T may say at once ihat ihe conditions m one concern are not alwins similar to thai, of conditions in another concern. If the Union had given a definite scheme, which they have not, I could say something on the matter. Not being an expert myself on this topic find not having got tf.e assistance of an expert cither, I am not prepared (o give an Award tbnt Produc- tion and Efficiency bonus should be introduced by the Company.

IfcsuK No !> —40 hours a weelt without any lose iri earnfaan.

The ense for the Union as it appears from thoir stilt emort is thut the hours of work should be reduced in Ihib concern to 40 hours a waek according to the I.L () Convention They rely to a certain extent upon the majority recommendatiou of the Higgin's Committee to reduce the bourn of work to 44 hours when the Factories Act- permitted work to be carried on up to 56 hours a week. They suggest thai when the 56 hours hn" been reduced to 48 hours ft week, 44 hours n week recommended by the majority of the Higgin's Com- mittee should be reduced to 40 hours without any loss of earning specially because the works done in a pettoleum concern are risky and unhealthy in nature. The Company on the other hand points oul that in the case of general shifts and some factories, the hours fixed by the Company are 4,">J hours a week. In the workshop and the Power Houso it is 45 hours with a 48 hours

spread-over. In the, Eefiuery (8 hours shift per day), the period is 45 hours a week and 53 hours u week in alternate weeks, 48 hours and 56 hours spread- over. Tn the fields, 8 hours shirts per day and it is lii hours in some sections and in drilling wells 50 hours. But they pointed out that the work is not continuous during this period They turther point out that although the Fac- tory Act has bcon amended m 194(3, it maintained the 48 hours a week m a factory and in the cane oL seasonal ones 50 houts a week. (Sec Company's statement on this issue). I may mention here that 48 and 50 hours were substituted for 54 and 60 hours b\ tho amending Act 10 of 1946.

In developing tins point, Sri Bn.su for the Union, lefers to the Draft Con- ventions nnd leeommendatinns ot the I.L Confcnneo, Page 4') oE the Higgin's report T LO Year Book 1036 77 Yea?- Book of Liiboiir HltilMns 1345-46, I.L O Montreal 10-17, I L.O Year Book 1937-38 and 1938-39 the Award it. tho Itiulwayfi vtrxm their -workmen Ueyo Coimmttee's "Report, pugi_ 11, Indian Labour (Wzotre, May 1948 ( P ^c 708) and Factoiies Ac I (Se< . 34) He soys /that workers may be dandified as

(a) Intensive nnd continuous workers, ((>) Essential Intermittent workeis, and (c) Excluded and interior staff.

He also vetcis to Point (o) in the Report of tho Works Committee Meeting of 20 May 1948. He further uiges that in calculating tho period of work, the time for Inking and making ovci of duties shpuld be included and waiting ab ft place lor going to join his duties by a workei at a distant point should also be included mid for night workeis there should be shorter houis of duh He also leferred to Elements of ludustrmi Well-being, Publiculion Ko. I, Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour, by Sn Wilfred Gan-ot (T'-ige 11). Sri t->ea for the Counpuny on the other hnnd contended that the woikers may be divided into factory workeis and non-fuctorv workers nnd the noji-ftK torv workers are not woildng more than 50 hou?s Tim New Factory Act, which has not come into force yot, does not touch the tpiostion ot hours With regmd to the (]uestioTi of ('(invention, America hew adopted International Labour Convention but India has not. He also referied to tbe Bihnr Labour Enquirv Coinmittee Eepoi-t (Pages 04-75) and ihn Calcutta (lazette Extrnordirurj of 3rd Jidv 1948 whore the hours have not been reduced. The observations m the BniUvnv cnHc he stivs nre not applicable to the present ense beciu^e some of ~the workers there, are on dut.\ for 24 hours. He also said thah in special cases reduction may be considered but not in the case of all and nlw pointed out that the Assam Oil Company -uas exempt'd from the operations of Reciions 34, 35, SO, 37 and 38 by Eule'91 of tile K^nva P'arforicH Rules, 1935. Ho also pointed out flint if (hey are overworked the workers are paid extra. Sri Basu for (he Union in reply nahiralh pointed ou+ that the Tribunnl can Qx appro- priate hours because the Factor/ Acf onl> fi\os the ?nnximum Labour Con- ventions though not, ratified bv Tndri deserve consideration. On this question the majority opinion to be found at page 27 of the TTiggin's report is as follows:

"Hours of works

"In our opinion, the dennnd for 44 hours n week in place of 45J r.our" is modest one The tendency everywhere in Fndm and outside has been towards reduction of working hours Since the publica- tion of the report of the Labour Commission on which the Chairman bases his findings working hours have been reduced from 48 downwards. The very fact that the Company has adopted 4/5' hours a Week in place of 48 points to this conclusion. At once 48 of Tndian Labour Union Year Book of 1986-37 it is said thnt

5 dass week i w' el li.nl !>eiu a d o p t 'd ip m am factories ju the interest of \ u i o i i il Economy and Xalioivd Welfare W i t h' this ideal ii! ~we\\ v\ e I (.'CUIIDK IKI to th" Copniam lo ieduce the work- ing hours from -to^ to 4-1 hour'- leducing 1", hours .>>i Saturday.

NVYTDrR RA.H.M \X

OMEoKCMAR HAS

I am II '.'liicic¹! a v e e m e ut w i th *ht ^ i"\\ e \ i) e s s ed t n e i e in M o i e ^ u 'i if a w e ek c o n s i s ts oi .V w o i k n ig d i \s and .i d u <-oiisihts oi e i ' J it w a k i ng hour-?, 8 x 5J would bring the figure io 4-4 no change.

F^IE Xo&. 6 \KD 13

I S S UE X<> ti.—Security of Spinier with j)mci<i for f*<>mi)Rn

reduction of Staff and icioiigful dit})ii.s*al or vi<'tinii*ati(>>i and

rP-insiiriewt nf oj- iroili'Ts who liavu heev wio'igfully or un-

justly dhwi\h"d IT ricHmiseil

TSSCE Xo 1:5.— Tierfcio'i oj 'hiifhug onlrn.

"Tills hi ,ni ii'i'io¹ t.mt d^niuiiu Cit f ie w.i^kirs ihonuh il is not pioperly apjirecated Low e\,iO'if beenr tv oi s^ixico <• in be ms-iued "> as to inspire -i sense '^ s"fm'it% IUIK.MU the wo V-rs All IM.ceases in wages and D. \ ,

' W h at effective saientu^ds ' L n n -t wronuhii .ir f.uilcsirable tlismissals

worker wishes to put his case to the Labour Union, the latter considers whether it is n matter for the Negotiating Committee. This Negotiating Committee oous fits of 3 or 4 members of the Union Executive, the Labour Superintendent and a senior assistant representing Management This Committee considers very fuily all the evidence including any fresh evidence on each case. Subse- quently its views ore referred to General Manager whos-e decision is final. In oertnin caset, the hitter has ordered re-instatement of workers and .•ancullttUon of warnings.¹'

Reading the two statements and also the Standing Orders, which is Name

Comrftny'u Regd. No. 1 Obedur Rahman

• (12107) 2 Bhftkta Bahadur

(10825) 3 Nar Bahadur

(24986) 4 Tajul Islam

(1S9M) B Hamidul Haquo

(19078) P Abdul Gafur

("231) 7 Jfttish Chandra Chowdhury

8 Abdul Jaltl

OAbdulSalam

(4024) (¹⁴276) <³¹"³*) 10 Muzaffar Ali ' . . . • . . •• (22005)

Namo.

Company's Regd. No.

11 A. H. Ludi

. . . . . .. (20485) 12 Nur Baksh

(112753) 13 DurKurtutta Uparthyn

(0064) 14 Ullah Mefth

(94382) 15 Madhusudan, Joisoy

(J'1702) lfi KriHtwau

(25170) 17 Chitraisih

(24021) 18 Kurinuih

(24040) 16 P. C Borah

(10539) 20 Faiz Ahmed

. (20182) 21 Email Singh Qhettry

(21488> 22 V. Mannan

(27401) 23 I K. Chowdhury

(27818)

Of these, the following only were examined before me:

(1) Obedur llahaman,

(2) Nur Buhudur,

(3) Tajul Islam,

(4) Hamidu) Huquo,

(5) Abdul Gafur,

(6) Jafrsh Chundta (Jhowdhury,

(7) Muzaffar AH,

(8) Durgadutta Upadhya,

(9) Ohitraiuh, and

(10) Faiz Ahmad.

The case of Bhakta Bahadur was amalgamated with that of Nai Bahadur and the cases of Kristama and Kurmaih were amalgamated with Ohitraiah. Some witnesses weie also examined to support) the statements made by the main witnesses.

Iu the ciihe of peisons claiming rc-instatcment after discharge or dismissal, one should not forget that ordinarily in cases of re-instatement one would be forcing a person upon an employer against his wishes and the employee also if re-instufed may not behave wntisfaotonly if bo feels (hat he hun been re-instated aguinst the wishes of the employer. In orcWing reinstatement tlio Tnburnl must bo satisfied that it ±h a cube of victimisation and should not older re- ingtutorrient simply because the Tribunal could possiUv come to a different concluBiori on the factB placed before it. This view has been expressed in a number of Awards. The Imperial Bank Award (Calcutta (iaaelto Extraordi- nary—6th September, 1947), Vcnasta Ltd. (Calcutta Gazette, Extraojclinary Oth" September, 1947), Charles Abreight & Co. (Page 1442 of Calcutta Gazette dated 28th October 1948), and several other Awardb. I have gone through the statements of the witnesses examined by mH on behalf of the employees and also tbe statements of witnesses exumiYied on behalf of the Company and I am of opinion that the cases of:

(1) Obedur Ralmman,

(2) Nar Bahadur,

ffl) "Hamidul Haque, THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY, F E B. 11, 1949 lift-

(5) Jatish Chandra Ohowdhuiy,

(0) Muzaflar Ali,

(7) Durgadutta Upadhyo, and

(8) Bhakta Bahadur (not examined before me),

do not call for any interference b,> me That, the Company authorities wero careful in distinguishing the cases of individuals is apparent from the stery that comes out in the ease of Nar Balindur. There weie four persons found sitting idle at their work but only Bhakta Bahadur and Nar Bahadur were discharged and not the other two. They were merely warned. The reason being that^the other two did not have previous warnings, whereas these two had. The casos of:

(1) Faiz Ahmad,

(2) Tajul Islam,

(3) Chitroiah,

(4) Kristaina, and

V5) Kurmaih,

are slightly different. They have not been found guilty of negligence of duty or misconduct. In their case, T would suggest that if a Mutable vacancy occurs and they ore found suitablo for the jobs, their cases may be favourably oonsi- dered by the Company.

A petitiou was filed on the 10th of December, 1048, ii.forming the Tribunal that Taml Islam (1896-1) and Faiz Ahmad (26182) who were discharged OP the 12th June 1048 should not have been discharged in view of the provision of Section H3 of the Industrial Disputes Act, I have examined these two persons and my views are 1o be found in the previous paragraph. With regard tc the cuwe of Ul],in Meah (Eegd. No 24882), who WHS disclun-ged on the 30th August 1948, I may mention at once that although his name was given ir the list, he never appeared brfore the Tribunal. Moreover, I doubt if this Tribunal can deal with his ease, beeaune this dispute was referred to the Tribunal on Lhe 11th of August, 1948 and he is alleged to have been discharged on the 30th August, 1948.

Coming now to the question of the revision of lhe Standing Orders, 1 nmv first dwpo.e of the preliminary objection that was taker by Sri Sen for the Company 1o relying upon a decision of tlfc Madras High Point He urged that th)K Court could not go into the mattet. The jurisdiction of this Court depends upon the question whether lhe revision or Standing Orders is an Indus- trial Dispute This view of the Madras High Court though not directly before th< Jute Tribunal has been differed from by thorn on a similar objection raised by the counsel for the employers. They observed' (Pajje 57 of Jute Tribunal Award)

"This Tribunal has therefore, ample jurisdiction to deal wilh and adjudi- cate upon this industrial dispute, and we cannot legitimately refuse ft, exercise the mrisdietion vested m us as a Tribunal merely because, had there been no such dispute, the parties have certain rights derived from ihe provisions of tho Indus'riaJ Employment (Standing Orders) Act. The rights of thC parties under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act must be held to be resfneted by the circumstances tuning f,-om tj,n existing industrial dispute, which we consider it to be our dutv to try to resolve ..It is to bo noted further that there is noihin-

in the Industrial Eniploymont (Standing Oidera) Act which pre- cludes this Tribunal from considering tho subject of Standing Orders us an industrial disputes."

1 may add furthor that in the prebent case when the Standing Orders wore •sent to the Union by the- Regional Labour Commissioner, dated brd April 1047 [Exbt. 13 (2)], he observed in the last paragraph as follows:

" It may be pointed out that their objections should not ba based on any merit a or demerits of the provisions of the Draft Standing Ordors but should only confine as to wlitiher they arc in comor- mity with the Act and the Rules."

6o, the Union had no chance after fhis intimntion lo detil with (he merits or •demerits ol tlie Standing Orders So, Sri Soil's contention fails.

But the question still remains, whether the Standing Orders need revision. I have gone through the Standing Orden, in the light of the arguments advanced by the parties and 1 notice that the Standing Orders hint' followed the model rules. There uro hut very slight variations due to the nature t f the work carried out by the Company. One of the grievances put forwaid hy the Cnion was that misconduct has not boon defined in the Standing Orders. Buf 1 find hi Rule XIV that misconduct has been described under the sub-seetior (1) from (a) to (k) which is an exact copy of the description given in the Model Stand- ing Rules. Generally speaking 1 am not inclined to interfere wilh che Standing Orders. It will be interesting to note that before thh dispute was referred ix) the Tribunal, a meeting was held before the Regional Labour Commissioner (Central)—a Memorandum of which has been placed before me as Exbt- I. It is dated 18th February, 1948. I will quote the relevant sentences:

" It was finally agreed that all the Union's demands except No. 18 (i.e. Revision of Standing Orders) would be referred to the Tribunal." "'Mr. "Pramanik proposed that the former published Standing Orders en stoppage of work should be included in the Standing Orders rather .than the present two paragraphs."

Then after some discussion it was agreed to refer this to the Tribunal. I am not prepared to revise the Standing Orders generally but where the Standing Orders are affected by the other portions of this Award, that relevant portion should be modified accordingly. Moreover, these Standing Orders were certi- fied on the 2nd of April 1948 and if any changes are required, they emi be intro- duced now that 6 months have expired from that date

I-astlH No. 7:—Leave: one month pnvilege iaave for all workers and employee a

alike, 15 days ooxval leave and festival leave on Gazetted

holidays.

The Union demands that all the workers both daily rated as well as monthly rated should be allowed one month's privilege leave with full pay. They also claim 15 days Casual Leave with full pay and 22 days festival leave with pay. At present the daily rated employees get 14 days privilege leave and the monthly rated employees ^et one month's privilege leave with full pay. The Company points out that the dailv rated workers are also allowed 28 days leave without pay over and above the 17 days which they Ret as privilege leave with pay including 3 days festival holiday. They also contend that the leave terras are quite generous and that the amount of leave should not be increased. In tlic course of argument Sri S. Basu drew my attention to Rege Committee'• report at Page 118 where the importance of leave in the onse of workers has been pointed out. There enn be no two opinions on this question. What this

Tribunal is concerned mostly is whether the amount of leave allowed to the workers is adequate. So far as. privilege leave to the daily-rated workers i" concerned, I think Cnwupore Enquiry Committee report referred to at Page l id of Bego's report may well be followed. Cawnpore Labour Enquiry Committee! recommended that 15 days privilege leave with pay to daily-rated workers on completion of one year'a service should be allowed. The dorks and the monthly-rated workers cannot have any grievance qo far as their privilege leave is concerned. So far as the festival holidays are concerned, I am afraid that the demand of the Union for 22 days festival leave in rather high. They base their claim on the Award made in the Printing Press Awar'd and reported in the Calcutta Gazette (Part I) deted 20th May 1948 at page 622. But it will be noticed that r*fr

I therefore direct that the Company should grant leave and holidays as follows:

PriviUge leave (inclusive of statutory holidays under Factories Act) :

Monthly rated workers—30 days.

Daily rated workers—15 days.

Canual leave : 7 (seven) days to monthly rated workers.

Festival holiday*: 11 (Eleven) dnys inclusive of Mahntmn Gandhi's birth- day and Independence Dny,

Sick have: The present scale to continue.

The leave rules should be modified as indicated above.

IMBUE JNOS. 8 AND 9

LSHUE No. 8:—Gratuity or termination bent.fit of one -month's wage for i,acli

year of nervite on the termination, of service:

and

ISSUE N O. 9 .— Provident Fund to be democratically managed by a joint cim-

mittee including equal number of worKerv' representatives a"d

with proper rules ensuring full payment of the Com puny'*

tribution earned by the workers during their past SLI viced.

Issue No.'B:—The demand of the Hnion is that the workers should get gratuity or termination allowance at the rate of one month's wages for each year of service or u part thereof on the termination of service. They say that Provident Fund in no substitute for Gratuity or Termination allowance or pension. They claim that they should get a fair amount as Gratuity or Termination allowance, in addition to the amount they Tmay or may not get as provident fund. They pointed out certain defects in tho rules of thd Piovi- dent Fund saying that it was not compulsory and that a considerable number of workers could not afford to pay the contributions out of their low earnings. That thy Anna Fund is meant only for the peoplo drawing less than Its. 80 and that those who are discharged before 5 yearn do not get the Company'H contribution at all. The Company according to their statements used to pay gratuity over and above the Provident Vund benefit but its benefit was restricted. They also claim that the gratuity should be paid after two years, of service on tho lermination of service. The present Kite of half a month'b pay for each year of completed service should bo raised to one month,

The Company does not accept the demand of the Union raying that they have got a scheme for Provident Fund for oil classes of employees wherein they contribute one month's pay in a year or in the case of the Anna Fund contributions approximately similar In tho courso of argument on this issue. a reference was made to Exbt. H(l) which is dated 29th December 1087, Along with this should be noticed Exbt. No. 8(a) which is dated 18th August 19137 and is earlier by a few months. Exbt.¹L8(a) is to the following effect:

"Labour Superintendent is being requested to translate into 3 vernacuUus and distribute to all departments through Time-keeping Depart- ment a notice to the following effect:

At its own discretion in approved cases (not by rule), the Company lias been accustomed in the past to grant retiring gratuities to men who are ceasing work after 25 years continuous good service, or sometimes oven after '20 years.

After the end of this yenr, the Company when calculating the nmount of any such gratuity will deduct from it tho amount of bonus contributed by the Company to the man's Provident Fund after ;'Jlst December 1937, or if he, in not a member (though eligible to be) the amount which would have been contributed if he had joined the fund on that date.

In other words, the gratuity will be calculated in respf-ct of his service prior to 31st December, 1987 only, and a man wi]] not receive more than the amount HO calculated, however long he serves, unless he joins the Fund.

Every man who hopes to get a long service gratuity should therefore join tho Fund immediately, and in any case before 31st Decem- ber 1937."

As there seemed to be some mi&undcrst mdinj.' about the notification of 2*)In December 1937, they explained the situation by Exbt. No. S(l) in which they

arises is as to what should be the position after tVie Company gave Notice on the 29t'[ July 1938. fit is Exbt. 9 (2).] The only question of importance arises as to what should be the position after the introduction of the Provi- dent Fund on 1st January, 1938. Are they entitled to gratuity in addition to the contributions made by the Company or are they ent tied to the bene- fits of the Provident, Fund alone. Many Awardq have been cited befon me but 1 an in ngroemcnt with the observations of the Engineering Award that tho workers should be entitled to e'nim only one bind of the retiring benefits. So far as changing the rales of tho Provident Fund is concerned I am nfra'd, it cannot be done as under tho trust. Burmah Oil Company are- the trustees- and they are not before this Tribunal. No change in the rules can be intro- duced under those circumstances. The Anna Fund schema will die a natural death after the present Award because the minimum basic wage has Deen raised to more than Es. 30 per month.

_ Under tbe"e circumstances all that I can do is to extend the time for joining the Provident Fund to the workers who have not yet done so. Till then the present practice will continue, i.e. they will get the benefits of the Company's contribution na mentioned in Exbt. 8 (1) quoted under Tcmie No.-8. The workers who have not joined the Provident Fund should do so withm two months of tho publication and coming in force of (his Award.

ISSUE NO. 10: — Payment of adequate com pen nation to the families of the

deceased workers who lost their lives ait well as to the

workers injured in the firing during the last lawful a tribe.

The case of the Union is that when the strike was in progress for about 16 days, throe persons Sn+^ondra Nath Chakraborty, Prnneswnr Ohoudhury and Chandi Ahir Jost their lives in the firing incidents on the night of the' 18th April 1939. Several others were also injured in course of the eaid firing incidents. The Union's case further is that Mr. R. Ttainsh, Air. H. F. Towler and Mr. A. Gillespie fired the shots which killed the above-named three persons. Mr. Towler is said to have killed Satyendra by revolver shot, Mr. Gillespio iff said to have killed Chandi Ahir by a revolver shot and Mr. Tainsh is said to- have killed Praneswar with a rifle shot. The occurrence is said to have taken place near about Charali Bazar. TJie Union further complains that although the first information was lodged it was not recorded. There was a magisterial enquiry by Mr. P. N. Das, which started on the 20th of April 1989 and com- plaints were filed on the 24th of April 1989. During the course of the magis- terial enquiry three petitions were filed. The report of Mr. P. N. Das was made on the 3rd of May 1939. The enquiry was made by the magistrate upder section 190(C) of Cr.P.C. He came to certain findings after examining not less than 73 witnesses. His findings are to be found at the end of his report [Exhibit 10(a)]. His findings are:

"(1) that the deaths of Praneswar Chaudtmry and Satyendra Chakravarty were caused by rifle shots fired by riflemen of Pamram'e party;

(2) that they fired in fielf-defenOe when faced with and attacked by hostile mob of several hundred;

(3) that Ch&ndi Ahir was shot down by Lieutenant Murray in self- defence when he was isimilarly attacked by a hostile mob; (4) that they all exercised the right of private defence on being attacked by the mob in the course of patrol duty;

(5) and that none of the Assam Oil Company'K employees were with riflemen at the time;

(fl) and thnt neither Mr. Taiush, nor Mr. Towler, nor Gillesple fired at the mob or shot down any member of the mob."

(Sd.) P. N. DAK,

3-5-39.

To continue with the story three petitions were filed before the Session* Judge against the dismissal of the complaints before the Additional Sessions Judge, Assam Valley District at Jorhat. Petitioners were NandaM Talukdar, Karimon Abir and Birendra Nath Chakraborty. Exbt. 10(2) was a petition of complaint by Kariman Ahir, brother of deceased Cbandi Ahir against Mr. Gillespie. Exbt. 10(3) was u petition of complaint by Nanda Lall Talukdar, maternal uncle of deceased Praneswar Ghowdhury against Mr. Tainsh. Lxbt 10(4) was a petition of complaint/ by Birendra Nath Ghakraborty brother of deceased Satyendfa Nuth Chakraborty against Mr. Towler The learned ludge- discharged the throo motions that were filed before him holding as follows:

"It in clear from the District Magistrate report that the 3 complaint petitions were dismissed under sections 208 Cr.P.C. after a proper judicial inquiry"

and then he noted

"At this stage I do not see any materials to make any direction under- the provisions of Sec. 48fl Cr P.G. The Magistrate's report will¹ now bo available as well as the copies of depositions of witnesses examined by him to any person who will care to file applications- for copies of them to the proper authority competent to grant copies. If nfter perusing the copies the legal advisers of the petitioners think it neoeswry to challange any of the conclusions- therein, they should come by fresh petitions giving tangible grounds for inviting the interference of the Sessions Court under Section 435 Gr. P. C ."

It may be noted that at the hearing of theqe applicafons before the Additional Session', Judge Mr. T. P. Baruah on the 27th May 1039 no one appeared for the petitioners. It is then said that a petition was filed before Mr, K. K. H"zra, Sessions Judge, Assam Valley District, who is alleged to Imve ordered a further enquiry. Although so many years have passed a copy of that order has not been filed before me Exbt. 10(0) however, was filed before me which happens to be a copy of a letter from the Chief Secretary to the Government" of Assam to the Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress, Proctor !ftoad, Girgaum, Bombay (4) The relevant portion of this letter for this issue read& ae follows:

"I am to a"M with regard to the request that action he taken to give effect to the judgment of the Session Judge in tho firing incident, that all that the Sessions Court did was to reverse the order of the Magistrate dismissing certain complaints under Section 208- Cr.P.C. with the order that further enquiry should be made into- the firing incidents. The only information available to the Pro- vincial Government is that further enquiry was made by an Inspector of Police whose report on the petitions of complaint aft- mistake of fact under Section 302 I.P.C, was accepted by the mag'strate. No further effort appears to have been made by the complainants to press their complaints."-

The letter is dated 16th July 1946. A preliminary objection was taken b> Sri Sen to the fact that this was not an industrial dispute and this Tribunal could. not go into the matter. That tho cause of action arose at a time when the Industrial Disputes Act was not in dxigtence. Sri S Basu for the t'iiioi> on the other hand replied that when the matter has come en refeienoe the Tribunal can go into the matter. He also suggested thnt this matter has come before the Tribunal on a joint rapre'jcntntion of the parties and therefore ovc> of the pnrtios could not raise the question of jurisdiction. Evidently, he wtis under the impression that reference \vns imule under Section 10(2) of the Industrial JjUputes Act Evidently this pnit of ihe argument was a cl united under misapprehension because the reference was made under clause (c) ofc

sub-section (1) of Clause 10 ot Industrial Disputes Act. T have my doubts about this matter, whether (his can come within the definition of an Indus- trial Dispute but I" shall deal with this legal portion while dealing wiib iHsne No. 1J. But the mat for has been fully placed before me by both the parties and I will deal with the merits ot the case. The material tacts that havo emerged from the elaborate arguments advanced by botb the aides ore that ;i firing incident took place on the 18th April 1939, A Magisha

"Digboi Strike— This Committee views with grave concern the pro- longed strike at Digboi and expresses its sympathy with the strikers in their distress. Tho Committee regrets that tbe Assam Oil Company has not seen its way to accept the modeat sugges- tion of referring the question of the method and time ot re- employment of the strikers to a conciliation Board to be appointed by the Government of Assam.

In the opinion of this Committee no corporation, however b.g and influential it may be, can bo above public criticism or Government supervision and legitimate control. Moreover, tis -was declared at tho Karachi session, the Congress policy is that theft should be State ownership or control of key industries. The oil industry is undoubtedly a vital key industry. This Committee therefore hopes that better counsels will prevail with the ("on_- pany and that its directors Mill accept the modest suggestion made on behalf of the Committee by the President of the Congress. If, however, the directors do not see their way to do so, tLe Committee advises the Assam Government forthwith to_ undej- Uake legislation for making tbe acceptance of the decisions of Conciliation Boards obligatory and further to give notice to the Company that the Committee may reluctantly be obliged to take such steps as may be necessary to s-top renewal of the lease to the Company on its'termination. At the same time that tins Com- mittee urges tho Company to fall in with the just suggestion made bv the Committee it hopes that the Labour Union will be ready to listen to the Committee's advice ami if they were to retain Congress and public sympathy they will be ready and wiling uo abide by the advice that may be tendered to them by the Com- inittee."

This resolution is not of much assistance to the Union for the purposes

ISSL-E No. 11:— Sympathetic covuideration of npeoific onsen of workers who have

suffered louse* in employment and property due to any action

taken againut the recdmmendation of the Conciliation Hoard.

In order to understand the claim of the Union it will be remembered that the strike cmtinutd for sometime before the promulgation of [he ordinance nfter the declaration of the war." Some of the strikers were re-employed. Those who were not employed were ordered to leave Digboi. They were given one month's pny, railway fares to their homes for themselves and their children payable on vacating Company's quarters within one month. The case of the Union is that as the workers had to vacate their quarters at a very short notice they couid not take all their properties and therefore they suffered loss of property. It is under this circumstance that the Union wants a sympathetic consideration ot the specific cases of workers who have suffered loss of employ- merit and property. Although this issue to my mind does not come within the definition of Industrial Dispute, T asked the Union to file affidavits with regard to individual cases to get a clenr idea of the nature of the grievances that they had. Three affidavits wero filed on 3rd December 1948, sworn by one Abdul Matin. The first affidavit refers the cases- of 10 persons, the second refers to 4 persons and the third refers to the case of on0 person, fn all the three affidavits the person who swore says "'this is true to )ny information and f believe the same to bo true." It is significant that he does not say that the facts are true to his knowledge. As against this wo have the affidavit by one A. JJ. -Burnett who denies in his affidavit any responsibility for the eviotion of the persons claiming compensation or for any loss of property if sustained by any perHou. As 1 said in the beginning of my remarks in^this issue Ihat I am of opinion that this is not nn in lus-trial dispute. Section 2(k) defines Industrial Disputes and runs as follows:—-

" 2. (lv) 'industrial dispute' menus any dispute or difference between employers and employees, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which i

So, in this case it has first to be established that there was a dispute or difference, that dispute or difference was between employer and workmen and that dispute or difference wns connected with the employment or non-employ- ment or the, terms of employment or with the conditions of lobour of any person. Even if there is a dispute or difference between an employer and a workman but it 13 riot connected wilh the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour of am person, it is not an Industrial Dispute. So, first of all we have to see whother there is a dispute or difference aid that dispute satisfies the definition.

\ dispute hns been defined in the Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary as "a contest with words: an argument : a debate: a quarrel. Difference is also defined as 'a contention or quarrel: the point in dispute'. Now tho

very heading of this issue shows that the Union wants sympathetic considera:.i:>n of specific cases of workers ". Sympathy has been defined na ''like feeling: an agreement of inclination, feeling or sensation: compassion pity: tenderness ^, an agreement of affections or inclinations, or n conformity of natural temperament: " If the Union wanted to be compensated for losses of employment and property us a matter of right, this issue would have been differently worded. They would not have asked for sympathetic consideration. Xor am 1 satisfied that the dispute is connected with the employment, or the terms of employment, or with the conditions of labour of the claimants, I am of opinion that it is not really a case of an Industrial Dispute. Even on the merits, a case for compensation for non-employment or loss of property has not been made out The Company could be asked to compensate only if it could¹ be held that they were responsible for the loss of employment or property. The statement of the Union is not very definite on this point as will be evident from some of the passages from the statement filed by the Union. They say:

"The position was that the Civil and Military authorities, responsible for the newly-declared Protected area, evidently acting on tho leport of the Company that such and such persons were dismissel from their services and given settlement, refused them permits to remain in the area any longer."

(I have italisized the important expression).

Thin is an inference rather than a statement of fact. They further, say thnt. ''There is every reason to heheve that the Company by all means created that impression in the minds of the auihorities that it will be dangerous to permit them to stav there even foi 24 hours after the settlement." These are mere insinuations ^Jnch cannot be the basis of a finding against the Company. The Affidavits on behalf of the Union as I have already said are not based on- knowledge. Moreover, so many vears after the alleged incident it is easy to make as assertion which it is difficult to refute.

On the materials before me I do not think that the Company can be held liable for the losseR if any suffered by the workers either of employment or property. Although so mnny years have passed no steps seem to have been taken by nny of the alleged sufferers to have their remedy in nny of the law courts, I therefore, hold that no Award should bp passed against the Company on this Issue.

IfifitTE No. 12:— In case of filing up new vacancies preference to be given to oJd

worker* who were unjustly deprived of their johe in the lost

Lawful Trade Dispute and against the finding of Ihe Con-

ciliation Bo&rd

By this issue the Union asked that preference sihould be given to old workers who are deprived of their jobs in the last lawful trade dispute and against the finding of the Conciliation Board. Thev say that pld hands should bo given preference in filling vacancies. The Company replies that they have re- emj^oyed ex-strikers, that they have no objection to re-employment of ex-strikers provided they find them suitable and available when a vacancy is to be filled up They also say that under the present policy of the Provincial Government, the Company is bound to give preference to the people of Assam. I do not see how it is expected that a man, who had gone on strike could bo preferred tc an equally good candidate for a vacancy The fact that a worker had gone on strike may not bo a disqualification for future employment but it cannot, give him a preferential claim, I would, therefore, suggest that the fact that a worker has gone on strike should not be used as a disquidificntion against him subject to the limitation suggested by the Company.

IWSL'E No. 14:—The programme of construction of quartern t< be speeded up

and finished according to a plan within a short and fixed period with

adequate provision for modification of unhealthy or undesirable type of

quartern and for proper water and electric supply- Minimum House

Allowance to be increased to Its. 10.

The Union in its statement wantw that suitable quarters for all employees should be provided as undertaken by the Company within a reasonable time. The period should be fixed and a comprehensive scheme f-hould bo prepared and construction of quarters should be expedited accordingly. The Company should ulso improve the existing water and electric supply. They further claim increase in the minimum housing allowance from Es. 4 to Rs. 10, The Com- pany in its reply gays that there is provision for housing of 61 per cent in Digboi and 44 per cent in Tinsukin. Tho Company has spent a large sum of money on building nbout 479 new quarters nnd extending or improving old quarters, since 1st January 1945 and they have further housing programme Invo'ving expenditure of further 11 lakhs of rupees. Dearth of building materials, principally cement, has recently been greatly hampering progress. The Com- pany pays a house allowance of 10 per cont of basic wages or Es. 4 per month, whichever is greater, to all who are not provided with quarters. There is no justification for the demand for increase of this allowance.

'

It is true that the Company accepted the obligation of housing the em- ployees (See Page 18 of Higgin's report). There is no doubt that building materials are difficult to get now-n-days and tho delay in having some more houses built may well be on account of that difficulty. In the course of my \isit to Digboi t had occasion to visit different types of quarters built by the Company. I need not give a complete list of the various types because that will be found in Rege's report at Page 12. To that list may b" added C. E. 129 type of quarters sinoo built. E\bt. Nos. 14(a) and 14(d) give an idea of number of quarters, type by type and their detailed description respectively. Another method adopted by the Company for housing the employees ig to allot plots of land 5O'x5O' or 50'x 75' on'lease for 10 years at a rent of Re. 1 per annum. The employees may have an advance of one year's house allow- ance to be re-paid in 10 instalments within one year. Lessee employees are qualified for house allowance. There are 225 lessees in this area. The water supply, sanitation, electricity etc. are on the same lines as with the Com- pany's area. Exbt. No 14(g) gives an idea of the various types of quarters seen by the Tribunal on the 14th and 27th September, 1948. Rome com- plaints were made that in certain cases there was overcrowding and the water taps were not sufficient. Those of the employees who are not in £he settle- ment area or in the quarters provided by 'the Company, live in the bustees. I &aw_ some of the quarters occupied by the workers in the bustee. The con- ditions of the houses in the bustee do not at all oompare favourably with the conditions of the housoe of the Company or the houses in the settlement area and that perhaps accounts for the overcrowding in some of the Company's quarters. Complaint has been made also that at least one type of quarters vis. C E, 2 type should be replaced by other types of quarters. They also com plain that the principle mentioned by the Company for allotting quarters are not adhered to and reference has been made to Exbt. 14(a) and 14(d). Now so far as the complaint about C K 2 types are concerned all that I can say is that in any future plan of building houses, this type should not be built unless the plan is improved. At one stage, in the course of argument it was •suggested that these quarters should be 'abolished'. That word does not convey any clear idea to my mind. I do not think that this Tribunal would be justified in asking the Company to demolish these quarters. All that this Tribunal can do is to tell the Company not to build any more quarters of C. E. 2 type.

In this issue a large number of authorities have been cited which I need not mention to show what type of quarters should be provided by the employers. The principles are well known and I do not want to burden this Award by referring to each one of those authorities. So far as the allowance is concerned I think it is adequate and I do not think any reason to intioduce any change in this aUowanee has been made out.

The Union wants some more witcr b'ps to be installed at different pieces: but this is a matter which d^pei ds "pon \arious circumstances including the availability of materials. I would !<-\i\e it to the discretion of the Company to improve the water supply as -soon as possible under the circumstances.

ISSUE NO. 15:—Medical grievances including full pay for Ike first four days?

of sickness as specified in the Assam Oil Company Labour Union's letter,

dated 11th Maich, 1947 and amplified in its Memorandum No. AOCjGMj

100, dated the 12th December, 1947.

The Statement by the Union refers to the letter, dated 17th March 1947 [which is now Exbt. No. 15 (1)] for covering the nature of the _ grievances thev want remedied. This was amplified in the Memorandum which is nj>w Exhibit No 15 (2). One of the grievances mentioned in the written state tment is that for the first four days of sickness, they should not be on bilf pay as it is at present. In'the course of argument it was urged that special arrangements should be made for the detection and cure of occupational diseases. The other grievances are more or less of a minor nature. While dealing with this issue I should mention that I thought it necessary _ to examine the Chief Medical Officer on 21st September 1948 and also to visit the var'ous medical institutions under the Assam Oil Company on 22nd September 1948. The Maternity Hospital was also visited on the same day as well as the Refinery Dispensary. The staff in the Main Hospital consist of the Chief Medical Officer, 14 Doctors—one of whom happens to be M.B. and the rest being L.M.P. There are 2 family non-graduate Doctors, _ 2 Sisters, 14 Nurses, 13 Compounders, 7 Labour Assistants, 2 Theatre Assist- ants, 15 Midwives and 8 family ward attendants, apart from various workers who help in carrying an the work of the hospital. The lowest average num- ber of patients was "542 daily in February and the highest was 829 daily in August. The&e sick people draw full pay during the period of incapacity after the initial period of half-pay up to a maximum period of 90 days in any 12 months. There are 12 beds iu the maternity hospital at Digboi and there are 6 outside midwives appointed by the Company to look up cases in the lines. Serious cases are brought to the hospital and pre-natal care is teken by a Doc-tor. The Refinery Dispens'ary is meant chiefly for employees. They only deal with the less serious cases.' The number of cases they deal on an average is 320 per day in season time. Jn Tinsukia also there are ^ beds f^r emergency eases in the Out-door dispensary. The difficult eases being sent to Digboi. On an average, about- 100 patients attend daily including both employees and their dependants. After having seen the arrangements in tb" hospital I am of opinion that the medical arrangements well compare favoi!* ably with the arrangements in any hospital in any flourish;ng town. With regard to Occupational Diseases the evidence of Dr. Prowse. the Chief Medics! Officer, is woith noting. He says that he has not seen a case of Epithelio- matous Cancer although he has'been in this hospital for 22 years. I nr~M mention that in the course "f argument, stress was laid on this particular disease.; Tt was suggested that arrangements should be made to detect WR disen^e at its inception and this is a disease wh'ch is likely to be caused V>v handling erf petroleum product. According to Dr. Prowse, even the cases of Oil Dermatitis are not many.

So far as thii issue is concerned, I am of opinion that the medical arrange- ment is quite adequate. I have already dealt under Issue No. 7 the Sick Leave rule. The Company says that half pay for the -first four days is to prevent malingering. It appears to be a preventive measure idicl not a punitive- measure. I do not see any reason to change this rule.

ISSUE NO. VI:—Extension of Educational facilities as specific I in the Union's

letter of 11th March 1947 to the Management.

The statement of the Union refers to its letter, dated 17th March 1947 to the Management. In that letter, which is Exhibit No. 16 (1), they emphasise the fact that Nepali and Telegu teaching should be introduced as is done m the case ol" other employees. They also want that schools should be opened. at Bapapong, Togla Basti and Barbil and also suggested in course of argument that conveyances should be provided for the pupils who come from certain, distances. The dependant brothers and sisters of the workers should be allowed to attend schools on the same terms as their children. The Cornpany should make education free altogether because education is free only up to* Glass VI. 1 would like to dispose of the question of opening new schools at once. From Bapapong the Lower Primary School is only about a mile and High School is about 3 miles. From Togla Bustee the Lower Primary School is ha]f mile and H.E. School is 1\ mile and from Barbil the Lower- Primary School is about a mile and also H.E. School. I do not think the- case of opening new schools in this case has been made out

In the Sfaiement, the Company shows that there are 2 high schools- for -*boys and girls and 1 M.E. and 8 Primary schools. At present there are 1646 boys and 792 girk wh"ch totals up to 2438 students receiving education. No fee is charged up to Class VI either in the Primary or Middle English School but a nominal fee is charged for classes VII to X. In the course of argument some emphasis was laid on the question of arrangement for teaching Telegu students in theii own language, arrangements in Nepali hav'ng been made already. Sri Sen foi the Company urged that there is no justification for making arrangements for teaching in Telegu. Most of the Telegu workers have not got their family at Digboi and some of the Telegu children who are- in D'gboi are b^ing taught in Hindi. In their letter, dated 2nd March 1948' to the Director. Labour Bureau, Kannedy House, Simla, the Company pointed out thr>t on that dav there were 1C schools working and they intended that 2 more echo Ms should be constructed shortly. Evidently one of them has a Ire id y been constructed and one is likelv to be constructed in the near future. I hnd an opportunity of going to the boys school where I found that 496 students out of 581 vieie present. There was also a suggestion that the night school should be raised to the standard 6f Matric school. The Company said that all these th ups require funds and that although Government was asked for- help, they did not get any. Looking at this question as a whole, I find that the educational facilities is adequate. The Company may appoint a Telesu teacher but T see nr. reason why they should be compelled by an Award to make such an arrangement. It may be noted that Exhibit No/16 (a) filed on 29th Octobe- J948, shows that the number of students has increased to 2,474. The raising of the night classes to the Matriculation standard at Digboi and the establishment of M.E. school at Tinsukia is left to the discretion of ih& ^Company. There is a Government H. E. school at Tinsukia.

Th? Union also pressed for buses to be provided for school boys who bars to attend school from* a certain distance, but when I asked if anv school in Assam provided huer-s for boys, the reply was that buses were provided for in. some girl's schools. No case for bus service for boys has been made out.

ISSUE No. 17:—Departmental and Minor Grievances including Acting Allow-

ances, [hcreading pressure of worlc by reducing requisite number of men,

'Travelling Allowance, etc., as specified in the Union's Letter No. AOGj

GAf/106 of 9th January 1948, and recorded in the Joint Committee meeting :

'In the statement) of the Union, the various departmental grievances have been refetred to. Acting allowance has been specifically mentioned and they claim that whoever acts in place of another should get the same pay of the person in whose place he is to work. The Company in their statement refer to 'thoir letter No. 051/18/9-G- of 8th March 1948. They say that moat of the mutters arc of trivia) nature and should have been deult with by vhe various 'Works Committees. They deny any pressure of work and also j>aid that acting •allowance is paid to clerioal and supervisory staff, members of Drilling i_,tc. gangs. Exhibits No. 17(8), 17(4) and 17(5) are letters, dated 29th January 1948, 27th December 1947 and the 15th January 1948 respectively. These letters deal with matters in connection with some other issues as well but I find ithat the Company replied in Ex. 17(2) to the various points raised in Exbt. 17(1) by the Union. The numbering of the paragraphs in Ex. 17(2) corres- ponds to the numbering of the paragraph in Exbt. 17(1). To get an idea about •'the nature of the grievances I find that, the first grievance is mentioned in Tara. l(a) Tke grievance in about the change of hours and pressure of work. "In l(b) they talk of promotion of Jogalis fit for A and B Grade jobs. l(e) talks about the remuneration of the apprentices; l(d) also talks of increase in pay.

Para. 2: (ft) Remuneration of the fitters' gang. Complaints pressure of work in Eig Building Department.

(h) Suitable clothing for workers in the Eig Building department

<(c) Some individual cases for promotion and increment.

Para. 8: "Duty hours should be changed. Para. 4: Headman should be given a scope of promotion to the post of supervisor.

iPara. 6: Eefinery Distillation Engineering; Certain promotion claimed in that department without any test.

Para. 8: Medical Department: (a) Eefers to some complaints about oil men.

(b) They do not get \ hour interval while working in the morning shifts for meals,

^o) Similar complaints by Firemen- J'ara. 7: (a) Drilling Department: They complain of shortage of hands,

increase in pressure of work.

<(b) Those working in the Mud Plant—change of shift from doy to night is objected to.

(c) Demand for some cover over their Iraads while working in Derricks and that there should be arrangement for covering the Derricks with tarpauline as before during the war.

(d) Pump houses should be covered for protection against rain and cold.

i(e) The drilling crews are made to clean cellar winch was formerly done

by Contractors' labour.

(f) Certain suggestions for safety of workers. (g) Demands an interval of half an hour for waiting purposes. Para. 8: Telephone Department: They say that there is pressure of work and atleast one more operator should be provided for. That there is also ft complaint of discourteous conduct of several officers.

Ail these matters have been replied to by the Company in Exbt. 11(2).

These are matters of minor details whioh should have been disposed of by the various works "ommittees. By the way, 1 notice that there are several Works Committees in this concern; but I find that Section 8 of the Industrial Disputes Act mentions only one Works Committee. However, I need not press this matter any further.

On perusal of the letters, Exbt- 17(2) and the objections raised by the Union, I find that the question of noting allowance and shortage of hands were reoJly stressed. So far as the acting allowance is concerned, the claim is as mentioned above. But the procedure that is being followed is to be noted in Ex. 17(8), dated 29th January 1948, in which the company say that the acting allowance should be the minimum of the grade in which the clerk actb and will be for the acting period of Hot less than 14 days. This matter was clarified in tho course of argument by Mr. Murray. He said that if a clerk acts ior a senior grade clerk he will get the difference between his own pay aud the lowest pay of the grade in which he acts as acting allowance; but before ho is ontitletl to get the allowance, the jomirnum period should be atleust 14 days. Tho ^uae principle applies to doily rated men in gangs. There being no acting allowance lor Artisans or Sweepers. So far as protective clothing is concerned, the Company replied that certain issues of clothing have already been promised but us a larjje order was cancelled by the suppliers the Company was trying other sources and the clothing will be issued as soon us the supplier, avo given. So far as shortage of hands is concerned, every man is expected to do bis share of work and if there is shortage of hands, I do not see how this Tribunal can force the Company to employ more mon. It may be noted that the various complaints of grades and things mentioned in tho letter, dated 9th January 1948, lose their importance in view of the change in the system that was intro- duced on the 10th March 1947. It is to be found us Annoxure X in Company's reply. The issue raises the question of sympathttic consideration by tho. Tribunal, but it appears from tho reply of the Company that thty have been trying to meet the demands as much as possible. The ease of the telophono operators wag placed before me in which the Union tried to show that one more operator was noeessary. But the operators themselves, it appears never complained that they were over-worked. [Vide Exbt. 17(8)]. la the course of my local inspection in September 1948 last, I was told that Well, No. 600 wtii in a remote part of tho jungle where wild animals were seen and therefore it wus not safe to ask only one man to work as a guard at ihat place, because an ordinary human being is not expected to be as courageous as a Shikari. When I went there in December last, S was told that the practice of posting 8 guard at that well has ceased on account of some imiomatio anaogementft

Giving due considerations to the various papers placed before me and tLe arguments advanced on this issue, it appears to me that these petty grievances are being attended to by the Company and no Award against them is called for.

Nr;i v, No. 18:—Apprentices' Grievances ae specified^tn the Union's letter of 11lh

March 1947 and in their Memorandum.

The lHter of the Union dated 17th March 1947 [Exhibit No (15 (1)1 which laid the grievances of the Union before the General Manager on tbis point runa as follows;

"Increase in their rates, proper quarters, better scope for treimn* better service benefits and the letter of the Apprentices filed on the 27th August, 1947 Exhibit 18(1) praotically to tbe same effect " They want more qualified teachers, better pay and' a central place for S l v La CTT • ^ ,+ r 1i Dg a nd e x o h f l n8i n" their views among them- selves. The training last for 6 years and the apprentices are paid at the rate

of As. 14 per diem in the first year, Re. 1 in the second year, Re. 1-2-0 in the third, Re. 1-4-0 in the 4th and Re. 1-6-0 in tho 5th your. Those who have paused from the Jorlmt or Surma Valley Technical Schojls in hnal examination in the first division start at the rate of Re. 1-4-0 in the 4th year per diem and those who have passed out in the 2nd or 3rd Division start in the 3rd year at the rate of Re. 1-2-0 per diem. Certain other emoluments are also paid to them if they pass certain examinations and after they have passed "ill their examinations they aie paid according to the result of tihe examination with thu maximum starting pay of Rs. 2-12-0 per day. In the course of argument it was also said that the period of training should be reduced to 3 years instead of 5 yeui'3. Some of the time of the Tribunal was taken ovor the question whether tho Apprentices are labourers or pupils. But, this question is purely academic. The real questions are whether their pay should be increased, the period of training bo reduced from 5 years and whether thev should get better quarterb. So far aa the first point is concerned, it has been disposed of hy Issue No 1. So l.ur ns the reduction of period of training it concerned, theie seems to be some practical difficulty. For example, stu lents who pass in the first division from Jorhat or Surma Valley Technical Schools, undergo training for 2 years under the present schome and those who have passed in lower divisions, undergo training for 3 years under the present scheme. It has not beoti shown ti me how those oan be adjusted if tht present period of tmini-ig ia reduced to 3 years. Moreover, some of the apprentices go and seek iob some- where else outside the Assam Oil Company's service on the strength of the certificate they get. The value of tho certificate mny be lessened if the period of training is refluced to 8 years only. So far as quarters are concerned, there Heems to lie good ground for their grievnre^ They are educated men and thev should be given better quarters than the ordinary labourers. Mr. Murray, Assistant General Manager, said that attempts are being made to provido them with hotter quarters. The Award on this issue will be that the Apprentice should be provided with beifer quarters than what th<=y are occupying at present as soon &s possible. Their emoluments will be increased as 'mentioned in iFssue No. 1 but the training period will continue as at present,

TysOfi No 10: — Wages for Involuntary Unemployment to laid off Workers.

The claim of the Union was (hat laid off workers should be paid in full under- standing Order No. 12. They referred to certain instances where workers were laid off and no payment was made The Company on the other hand pointed out that some 12 months ago a certain number of men were laid off at Tinsukia. They only lost their basic wages because the .Oompanv continued to pay Dear- '

I would, therefore, direct that tho schemes laid down by tho Tripartite Con- ference should be followed in the case of laid off workers.

ISSUE NO. 20:—Same wages, pay scales, Irreducible minimum -pay and allow-

ahoe for Involuntary employment and service benefits for t1om-

paHy't Contractors' Labour:

Before I flenl with the merits of this issue, I think I should note that n. letter was adflreased to tho Ministry of Labour, New Delhi, dated 2lsfc September, lW& by some of the labourers working under contractors. Tho

Ministry of Labour re-directed that letter to this Tribunal with the following Observation:

"I am directed to forward a copy of letter dated th0 21st September, 1948 from the Assam Oil Company Contractor's Labour Union, Digboi. Attention is invited to item 20 ot the Schedule to this Ministry Order No. LB-8(29), dated the 10th August 3948."

In the proaent dispute before me the Contractors' labourers nre not parties.

No notice was served on them.

As to how this matter came before this Tribunal will be apparent from the statement made by the Union. Their complaint is that these labourers were enga^i'd not only for jobs like building of quarters, road work, repairs etc. but also for various kinds of jobs even in the Hennery and Oil Fields requiring the services of unskilled, semi-skilled and even skilled labourers. According to the statement of tho Union "a good many direct employees of the Company had to lose their jobs now and then as a result of this practice though carried nut under careful covers." The question of the abolition of the contractor's- labour also is not before me. Thq prayer of the Union is that the Company should see that the contractors should conform to their own pay scales and service benefits etc. The Company in its reply says that Contractors' labourer i" used by the Company in limited number for work of temporary duration, -c.0., building quarters, roads, jungle clearing, painting etc. The Company R*ys "Payments (ire made to the contractors and tho payments to the workers are scrutinised by us from time to time, since the wages element in the calculation for contract work is made up by us on the basis of wages similar to. those paid to our own employees, and since UearneBS Allowance is also paid a".d an allowance on tho basis of the difference between our subsidised rice rate of Es. 7 per inaund and the average prices' of rice for the month in question."

They further allege that the contractors labour also receive free medical treatment in tho Company's hospital. Contractors are employed upon work • which is not the normal work of producing and refining oil or .upon work of temporary and fluctuating character. The Company does not agree to the proposal that the employment of contractors should be abolished.

Since neither the contractors are now before us nor the labourers, no orders c"n be passed directing them to act in a particular way. But, the Company is a party to the dispute and they can be directed to see that when they enter into u contract with the contractors, they should do so on the basis of wages that ore paid to their own employees. Nothing more can be done beyond this in this matter.

Before I oloso this Award, 1 must thank Sri H. K. Basu, Sri V. Sarma and Sri S. K. Pramanik, who appeared for the Union and Sri 8. C. Sen, who appoarcd for the Company, for the considerable assistance that they gave me in dealing with this protraoted and intricate matter. I must HISO thank Jan&b A. Talib, Eegional Labour Commissioner (Central), who very loyally helped during the preliminary stages of the case before my office was fully organised "nd the; ihst few days of hearing at "Higboi.

S. P. VARMA, Chairman,

Central Industrial Tribunal,

CALCUTTA;

Ifye 8th January, 1940*

APPENDIX A

COPY OF LETTEK NO. L-1891, DATKD 12TH JUNE 1944, FROM THE DEPUTY

HECHETA-HY TO THE GOVERNMENT OV INDIA, DBPABTME-NTT OP LABOUR, TO ALL PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS, ETO.

Compensation for involuntary unemployment due to shortage of coal, raw materials or change in lines of production.

1 am to invite attention to the disoussion on the above subject at the Tripartite Labour Conference held in September 1948. It has not been easy to evolve precise proposals in this matter in view of the difference on some points apparent at the discussion and the need to meet varying conditions to which the proposals may apply. Proposals for compensation for involuntary unemployment of the kind referred to have to b© considered not only with reference to possibly schemes of unemployment insurance, but also with reference to the obligation of Governments to grant relief where found necessary.

2 The Government of India feel that while it is not possible to propound a fully co-ordinated scheme in this respect which can be statutorily imposed, it is advisable that they should formulate certain principles which may suitably be roasilercd by Provincial Governments and employers when occasion (irises. The adoption of measures on the lines of thoso in the Annexure by all concerned would achieve a desirahle uniformity in India. The Governments of individual States represented at the Labour Conference are also being apprised of the Government of India's proposals.

f). I am to add that the Government of India will act on tlio principles stated in the Anncxure, in respect of their own industrial establishments.

ANNBXURE

(1) Kinds of unemployment covered.

(a) The proposals relate only to short-term unemployment, during the period of the war due to shortage of coal or raw materials or changes in lines of pro- duction of which adequate notice cannot be given.

(b) The proposals do not cover closiiree of factories or of deportments due to special Government orders.

(c) The proposals do not cover closures of which adequate nofioo i% given under Standing Orders, whether statutory or voluntary.

(2) Benefits to be given.

(R) Benefit which should be on a scale lower than the ordinary rate of pay may be fixed in either of two ways:

(\) Seventy-five per cent, of the ordinary rate of pay for first fortnight of unemployment and 50 per cent, of the ordinary rat© of pay for the second fortnight of unemployment with possibly a flat rate of benefit for persons drawing lower levels of income.

(ii) A¹ flat rate which would bs about 75 per cent, of the average of lower range of wages rates in the undertaking.

(b) Duration of benefit should be one month in each half year, allowing for a waiting period of 7 days (benefit however to s&rti from the first day of unemployment provided the unemployment lasts longer than the waiting period).

(c) This special unemployment benefit will not qualify a worker for bonuses determined by reference to earnings over any period.

(d) The cost of benefits will be admitted as revenue expenditure for income- tax and Excels Profit Tax purposes.

(3) Conditions attached to benefit.

(a) To quality for benefit a worker must answer to a mustor roll once a day at his usual place of employment or, with the permission of the employer, at any other place.

(b) A worker will be ineligible for benefit if he unreasonably refuses work oven of a different sort in bis usual factory or (provided employment offered is in the same locality) by transfer from one department to another in the same undertaking or industry (or from one industry to another). In case of dispute whether an objection to transfer was reasonable or not, an authority designated by the Provincial Government shall decide finally. For the transfer of Labour from one industry to another use will be made of the Employment Exchanges in rospect of skilled and semi-skilled personnel and in the unskilled labour Supply Committee in respect of unskilled labour.

(c) The employer will not be entitled to discharge during the benefit period any worker who hat been in continuous employment with the same employer or in the same industry in that locality for a period of not less than three months.

(4) Benefit by whom given.

The "liability to pay bonefit will be on tho employer.

(5) Induxtrieb covered.

All industries should be covored whether engaged on w"r industry or other- wise.

(6) Methods of ensuring payment of benefit

A Province (or State) should use its good offices or conciliatory powers to persuade employers to pay: though in suitable cases disputes, in this regard enn be referred to adjudication under Defence of India Hule 81-A.

Where voluntary agreement between the employor and the workers has been reached nr where the Provincial Government is sntisfied as to the detailed measures of benefit necessary, the agreement or the details could bo embodied in an order to be passed undor Defence of India- Eule 81-A (1) (b) after consultation in individual casos with the Central Government.

The iState Governments will utilise the appropriate legal machinery avail- able to them.

COPY OF LETTER NO. L-1801, DATED 1ST MABCH 1940, FROM THE DEPUTY SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR TO ALL PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS, KTC.

Compensation for involuntary unemployment due to shortage of coal, raw

materials or changes in the lines of •production.

T am directed to invite attention to this department letters No. L-1891, dated 12th June 194.4 and 9th November 1945 on the above subject. As a result of consultations with the Provincial Governments and the ornploying

departments of the Government of India, and of discussions at the seventh Labour Conference held m November 1945 the Government of India have decided that the sub-clause (b) of clause 2 of the scheme detailed in Annexure to this department letter No L-1891, dated 12th June 1944, should be amended to read as under: —

"Duration of benefit should bo one month in each half year. No benelit will be given in the half-yearly periods January to June or July to December until the number of days of involuntary unomploy- ment has exceeded seven in thevaggre gate in the hah* year."

It has been further decided that the scheme should be retained till tho war time controls are lifted and unemployment due to shortage of coal, raw materials, or ohanges in lines of production ceases to be of serious moment.

H. KHANNA, Dy. Secy

PUBMBHSD "T THI MANAQIR O# PUBLICATIONS, DELHI, INDIA

JfRDTCD ft TOT MAHAOXB, GOVKENMSKT or INDIA Pains, Nvw DstHi, INDIA