IMPERIAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES (INDIA) PRIVATE LIMITED versus THE WORKMEN (AND CONNECTED APPEAL)

GAJENDRA.GA.DKAB J.-These two cross appeals directed against the decision of the Industrial Tribunal in respect of two of the demands referred to it for adjudication. Five industrial demands were ma.de against the Imperial Chemical Industries (India.) Private Limited, Bombay (hereafter.called the company), by its workmen (hereafter called the workmen), and they were referred for industrial adjudication by the Government of Bombay under s. 10(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (XIV of 1947). These demands were considered by the Industrial Tribunal in the light of the evidence adduced before it by the respective parties and decided on the merits. Two of the demands which a.re the subject matter of the present appeals were demands Nos. 3 and 5. By demand No. 3 the workmen claimed that for the work done on Sundays and holidays observed by the company clerical a.swell a.s service staff shall be pa.id twice the employee's normal rate of pay consisting of ha.sic sa.la.ry, dea.rness allowa.nce a.nd other a.llowances if any. Demand No. 5 made by the workmen was that all ?mploy.ees of the company shall not be c~mpul­ sonly retired by the company before they at tam the age of 60 except in case of voluntary retirement by the employees concerned. The company is an All India concern and has its branches at several places in India. At its Bombay office 1,400 employees are engaged by the company ; out of these 800 employees are concerned with the present dispute; 600 out of them belong to the clerical cadre whereas the remaining 200 belong to the cadre of the subordinate staff.

pp. 351–352, margin G

The two demands set out above were disputed by the company. In regard to demand No. 3 the company stated that it paid Sunday or holiday work allowance in terms of an earlier award known as the Naik Award, and since no change of circumstances had taken place since the making of the said award a revision in the matter of the said payment was not justified. The company further claimed that the allowance paid by it to its employees was reasonable, fair and adequate. In regard to demand No. 5 the company pleaded that since 1950 the company had fixed the retirement age at 55 for all its employees throughout India, and that any revision made in that behalf so far as the employees in the present dispute are concerned would have serious repercussions in the other branches of the company. It was also urged that the age of retirement fixed by the company was fair and reasonable. The company drew attention to the fact that it pays a generous Provident Fund of 10% contribution from either side which does not exist in many others concerns in Bombay.

p. 352, margin A

In regard to demand No. 3 the Tribunal has partly allowed the claim of the workmen and has directed the company to give to the employees concerned, for work done on Sundays and holidays, half of a day's total salary and dearness allowance (calculated by dividing the total of the basic wage, special allowance and dearness allowance for the month by 30). In regard to the work done by the employees on festival holidays the Tribunal has purported to order that the allowance in that behalf should be a day's salary and dearness allowance calculated as above, but employees will not be entitled to a substituted holiday. It is this

pp. 352–353, margin A

. h ll d b h k part o. f h t e a.war d h t at c a enge y t e wor men Ill their appeal.

p. 353

In regard to demand No. 5 the Tribunal ha.s taken the view that a case had been made out by the workmen for the revision of the age of retirement fixed by the company a.nd it ha.s held that it would be rea.sona.ble to fix the said age of retirement at 58 instead of 55. This direction is challenged by the company in its appeal as well as by the workmen in their appeal. The company contends that no change should have been ma.de in the age of retirement, whereas the workmen urge that the retirement age sh.ould have been fixed at 60 instead of 58. Thus Civil Appeal No. 471 of 1960 filed by the company is concernea only with · the fixation of .the age of retirement, whereas Civil Appeal No. 472 of 1960 which has been filed by the workmen is concerned with the age of retirement as well a.s the direction issued by the Tribunal in regard to the payment of allowance to the workmen for work done on festival holidays.

p. 353

In regard to the direction issued by the Tribunal in respect of work done on festival holidays it is obvious that the impugned direction is due to an oversight. We have already pointed out that whereas the workmen wanted a revision of the practice prevailing in regard to the payment of allowances for work done on Sundays and holidays the company wanted the status quo to continue. The payment which the company was making in respect of· the said work was in accordance with the Naik Award, and the company's case was that there was no justification for changing the said practice. It is thus obvious that the company did not want a.ny change in its favour and to the detriment of the workmen. It was apparently not realised by the Tribunal that in making a. distinction between work done on Sundays on the one hand and work done on festival holidays on the other, and in making two different directions in respect of the said two categories of work, the Tribunal's order in regard to the latter category of work would have the effect

pp. 353–354

of placing the workmen in a worse position after the (Jndia)award than before. The relevant direction deprives the workmen of their right to a compensatory weekly off or a substituted holiday, and the inevitable consequence of this direction would be ultimately to deprive the workmen of a part of the benefits to which they

p. 354

J d d h • · Th· are ent1t e un er t e pre-ex1stlllg arrangement. 1s position cannot be and has not been seriously disputed. Therefore we must uphold the plea raised by Mr. Dudhia. on behalf of the workmen and direct that in respect of work done on festival holidays the practice prevailing before the present dispute a.rose should continue. .

p. 354

Then, as regards the age of retirement, the learned Attorney-Genera.I, for the company, has strenuously contended that the Tribunal was in error in changing the age of retirement from 55 to 58. He argues that in dealing with this question two important facts must be borne in mind. The company is an All India concern, and it is of great importance that the terms and conditions of service prevailing in the several branches of the company all over the country should be stabilised and made uniform as far as is reasonably possible, and in the matter of retirement the company has achieved uniformity by fixing the age of retirement at 55 since 1950. This arrangement should not be disturbed because it would inevitably upset the age of retirement, in a.II other branches. He has also relied on the fa.ct that the general terms and conditions of service provided by the company to its employees are very liberal, and he has made special reference to the Provident Fund which the company has started for the benefit of its employees. Even otherwise, so the argument runs, it cannot be said that it is unreasonable to fix the age of retirement at 55. In support of these contentions he has relied on the decision of this Court in The Dunl,op Rubber Co. (India) Ltd. v. Workmen(').

p. 354

On the other hand Mr. Dudhia. contends that the decision of this Court in the case of the DunJ,op Company (') is in fa. vour of the demand ma.de by the workmen and the Tribunal was in errror in not fixing the age of retirement at 60 applying the principles laid

pp. 354–355

. . f h D lo down by this Court the case o t e un 'P Com. pany ( Besides, he points out that in dealing with the question on the merits the Tribunal has unfortu. nately failed to consider one important document filed by the workmen along with their statement of the claim (Ex. B). This document would conclusively show that in Bombay the age of retirement is almost invariably fixed at 60 and not at 55.

p. 355

The question about the age of retirement hai; been considered by this Court in the case of Guest, Keen, Williams Private Ltd. v. P. J. Sterling (2). In that case certain general considerations which may be relevant in determining the age of retirement have been dismissed. In the case of the D'unlop Company ( the same considerations were repeated, and it was held that the decision of the Tribunal by which the age of retirement was fixed at 60 should not be interfered with. In the latter case some of the considcratoions on which the learned Attorney-General has relied were present. The employer was an All India concern and the argument that changing tho terms and conditions of service in regard to 'the age of retirement in one place might unsettle the uniformity and has serious roporcussions in other branches was urged and considered by this Court. It was there pointed out that though the consideration relied upon by the employer was relevant and material its effect had to be judged in the light of other material and relevant circumstances, and it was added that one of the important material considerations in this connection would be that the age of retirement can ho and often is determined on industry-cum-region ha.sis. It was from this point of view that the Court took into account the fact that in Bombay for some time pa.st there has been a progressive tendency to fix the age of retirement at 60, and if consistently with the said tendency the Tribunal fixed the retirement age at 60 in the case of the Dunlop O<Ympany (1) this Court sa.w no reason to take a different view. In our opinion, in so far as the considerations on which the company relies in the prese~t appeal were common to the consi?era. tions urged m the case of the Dunwp Company ( ) the decision in the latter case is more in favour of the workmen than of the company.

pp. 355–356

It is true that in matters of this kind this Court generally does not like to interfere with the decisions of the Tribunal if it is satisfied that the Tribunal ha.s reached its conclusio'ns after considering the relevant evidence adduced before it. There is no doubt that in fixing the age of retirement no hard and fa.st rule can be la.id down. The decision on the question would always depend on a. proper assessment of the relevant factors and may conceivably vary from case to case ; but in the present case it seems to us that Mr. Dudhia is right in contending that in reaching its conclusion· the Tribunal has somehow lost sight of an important document filed by the workmen a.long with their claim. This document (Ex. B) shows that out of industrial concerns there set out, in regard to 10 the age of retirement has been fixed at 60 either by a.ward or by agreement, and that in regard to the remaining 3 there is no age of retirement. The record shows that the facts mentioned in this statement were not disputed before the Tribune.I. Indeed in most the cases reference is made to an award, and it was presumably realised by the company that the awards in those respective cases had in fa.ct fixed the age retirement at 60. This document has not been considered at a.II by the Tribunal in dealing with question a.bout the age of retirement, and that gives strength to tho argument of Mr. Dudbia that this Court ought to reconsider the merits of the dispute for itself.

p. 356

It appears that the company filed a. list (Ex. C-1) support of its case that the age of retirement had been fixed at 55 in 14 industrial concerns; and reply to this list the workmen filed their own explanation (Ex. U-1). This explanation shows that some of the cases a.n industrial dispute was actually pending adjudication or demands ha.d been made tho employees to raise the age of retirement.

p. 356

s.c.R. s•· regard to 4 Oil Companies specified by the company in its list (Ex. C-1) it appears that a.U of them have a.

pp. 356–357

, d b di k b pension scheme, and that un ou te y ma es a su · stantial difference. It is generally recognised in ind ustrial adjudication that where a.n employer adopts a. fair and reasonable pension scheme that would play an important part in fixing the age of retirement at a

p. 357

. I I' t If t' d ~mp l comparative y ear ier s age. a re ire oyee can legitimately look forward to the prospect of earning a. pension then the hardship resulting from early compulsory retirement is considerably mitigated; that is why cases where there is a fair and reasonable scheme of pension in vogue would not be comparable or even relevant in dealing with the age of retirement in a. concern where there is no such pension scheme. In regard to Godrej and Boyce there was a dispute between the parties a.s to the real age of retirement fixed by the employer; similarly there was a dispute a.bout the age of retirement in Brooke Bond (India} Private Limited. The learned Tribunal considered the evidence supplied by the two documents Ex. C-1 and Ex. U-1 and held that having regard to all the relevant circumstances it would not be unreasonable to fix the retiring age at 58 in the present case. It is true that in dealing with this question the Tribunal has commenced its discussion with the observation that in a. number of concerns the retirement age is 60, and that there had been for some time a. trend to increase the retirement age from 55 to upwards ; but the tone and trend of the discussion leave no room for doubt that the Tribunal failed to take into account the evidence supplied by the workmen in their document Ex. B filed a.long with their claim. This evidence strongly suggests almost a. uniform tendency in Bombay to fix the age of retirement at 60 and not 55. If the Tribunal had considered this evidence and given reasons why it did not justify the workmen's claim for fixing the age of retirement a.t 60 it would have been another matter. Since the a.ward does not refer to this document and gives no reasons why the trend disclosed by the document should not be adopted in the present case it has become necessary for this Court to consider that question for itself.

p. 357

Th~ learned Attorney-Genera.I contends that the industrial concerns to which the said document Ex. B · refers are not comparable to the company, and so no

pp. 357–358

h Id b h d h d d" l importance s ou e at tac e to t e tren 1sc osed by the said document. 'Ve a.re not impressed by this ·;argument. One has merely to look at the industrial 'concerns specified in the list filed by the company to · realise that if the said concerns are comparable in the present proceedings there. is no reason why the concerns specified in Ex. B should be rejected as not comparable.- ·Besides; in the case of the Dunlop Company('), as in the present case, the dispute was and is between clerical and the subordinate staff and their employer, so that some of the conditions which may be relevant in fixing the age of retirement of factory workers may not necessarily apply. As this Court pointed out in the case of the Dunlop Company(') the recent trend in the Bombay area. clearly appears to be to fix the age of retirement at 60. That being . so we see no reason why the age of retirement of the workmen in the present appeal should not be similarly fixed. As we have already observed, if the Tribunal

p. 358

had considered· the uniform trend disclosed by Ex. B .. and had stated its reasons for not giving effect to that trend it would have been another matter; we would then have considered· whether. we should. interfere with the discretion exercised by the Tribunal or not. The. Tribunal however does not appear to have considered this evidence. On the whole we are satisfied that· Mr. Dudhia. is. right ·in contending ·that . tho material facts in this case are very similiar to the · facts in the case of the Dunlop Company('). That being so, we think that the age of retirement in the case of the workmen concerned in the present appeal should be raised to 60 from 55. • '

p. 358

The result is Civil Appeal No. 471of1960 filed by the company fails and is dismissed, .whereas Civil Appeal No.472of1960 filed by the workmen is allow. · ed, and the directions of the award under appeal are modified. The workmen will be entitled to their costs from the company.

p. 358

Appeal No. 471 dismissed. Appeal No. 472 allowed.

p. 358

•.

p. 358