Civil Appeal No 96 of 1961
Appeal by special leave from the award dated December 7 1959 of the central Government Industrial Tribunal Dhanbad in reference No 42 of 1959
SC Banerjee and P K Chatterjee for the appellant
Janardan Sharma for the respondent
January 30
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SARKAR J
The appellants the Bhowra Kankanee Coal Co Ltd own the Bhowra and other collieries
On the Bhowra Colliery there are a number of residential bungalows belonging to the appellants occupied by their officers employed in the colliery
The appellants employ certain malis for working as such in these bungalows and their duty is to look after and maintain the gardens there
A dispute along between the appellants and their workmen as to whether these malis who were fourteen in number were entitled to bonus
By an order made on June 23 1959 under the  the Government of India referred this dispute along with another with which we are not concerned in this case for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal Dhanbad
The Points referred concerning the dispute above mentioned were in these terms 1 Whether the withdrawal of the benefit of bonus provided in the Coal Mines Bonus 885 Scheme by the management of the Bhowra Colliery from the following garden mazdoormalis is justified
If not to what relief are they entitled and from what date 2 Whether the garden mazdoorsmalis referred to above are employed on domestic and personal work within the meaning of paragraph 3 b of the Coal Mines bonus Scheme 1948 and if not to what relief are they entitled and from what dates The points so referred were decided by the Tribunal against the appellants by an award made on December 7 1959 and the present appeal is against that award
Till January 1 1955 the Bhowra and certain other collieries managed as a group were owned by the Eastern Coal Company Ltd and on that date these collieries were sold to the appellants
At the time when this sale was being arranged the workmen in these collieries raised a dispute that their services should be treated as continuous inspite of the transfer of the collieries from one owner to another by the sale and that the conditions of their service and the facilities which they were enjoying under the previous owners should be guaranteed and continued by the succeeding owners that is the appellants after the latter took over the collieries
At the instance of the conciliation officer appointed under the Act this dispute was settled by an agreement made on January 14 1955 to which the Conciliation officer the workmen the previous owners and the appellants were parties
Paragraph 3 of this agreement provided as follows Agreed that the existing service conditions and the facilities will be continued excepting pension Now in 1948 an Act called the Coal Mines Provident Fund and Bonus Schemes Act had been passed by section 5 of which the Central Government was 886 empowered to frame a bonus scheme for the payment of bonus to the employees of coal mines The Central Government had framed a Bonus Scheme under this provision in 1948 and since then the previous owners had been paying the malis employed for the bungalow gardens belonging to the Bhowra Colliery bonus in terms of it
In 1951 they once stopped the bonus but that caused an industrial dispute and they thereupon restored the bonus
Upto the acquisition of the Bhowra Colliery by the appellants they position thus was that these malis had been receiving bonus since 1948 excepting for a short period during which it had been stopped as earlier mentioned
After they became the owners of the Bhowra Colliery the appellants however stopped the payment of bonus to these malis
This raised the industrial dispute which had led to this appeal
Paragraph 3 of the Bonus Scheme framed under the Act so far as relevant for this case is in these terms Paragraph 3
Except as hereinafter provided every employee in a coal mine to which this Scheme applies shall be eligible to qualify for a bonus Exceptions An employee in a coal mine shall not be entitled to a bonus under the Scheme for the period during which a         b he is employed as a mali sweeper or demestic servant on demestic and personal work c        
One of the questions raised in this appeal is whether the bungalow malis were entitled to bonus under this paragraph
The appellants contended before the Tribunal that malis as a class were excepted from the benefit of the Bonus Scheme by the provision 887 in exception b in this paragraph
They further contended in the alternative that these malis were excepted in any event because they were In malis employed on domestic and personal work within the meaning of the exception
The Tribunal rejected these contentions of the appellants and held a that these malis were entitled to bonus under paragraph 3 of the agreement of January 14 1955 and b that they were not employed on domestic and personal work and were therefore not within the exception
For these reasons the Tribunal held that the withdrawal of the bonus by the appellants was not justified
It is not clear on what ground the Tribunal held that the malis were entitled to bonus under paragraph 3
of the agreement of January 14 1955
It may be that the Tribunal thought that the Bonus Scheme framed by the Central Government formed a condition of service of the malis or a facility to which they were entitled and which the appellants undertook by the agreement of January 14 1955 to continue
If this was the point of view then of course the further question still remains whether the malis were on domestic and personal work for if they were then they would not be entitled to the bonus as a facility or a condition of their service under the Scheme
It was however contended on behalf of the respondent workmen in this Court that the right to bonus was a condition of the service of the malis and a facility to which they were entitled independently of the Bonus Scheme and that this is what the Tribunal had held
The record however is not very clear on this question
The appellants dispute the contention of the workmen and further say that in any event the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to decide that question for the question referred to it was the right of the malis to bonus under the Bonus Scheme
888 We think that the appellants  contention is well founded
What had been referred was the question whether the withdrawal of the benefit of bonus Provided in the Coal Mines Bonus Scheme  is justified
On the language of the order of reference it seems to us that the dispute referred was as to the right as provided in the Bonus Scheme and not as to any other right
This also was the workmen s case before the Tribunal as appears from its written statement filed there
In the statement of case filed in this appeal also the respondent took the same position
We therefore think that if the Tribunal had held that the malis were entitled to the bonus under the agreement of January 14 1955 independently of the Bonus Scheme it had exceeded its jurisdiction and its award cannot be upheld
The question still remains as to whether on a proper construction of paragraph 3 of the Bonus Scheme these malis had any right to bonus
That was undubitably the question referred to the Tribunal
The words requiring construction are on domestic and personal work
The Tribunal held that malis working in bungalows belonging to the appellants were not working for the home or household of private persons or individuals and were therefore not on domestic work
It also held that as the malis work under the direction and control of the appellants and were liable to be transferred from one bungalow to another or to some other work they were not on personal work
We are unable to accept this construction of paragraph 3 of the Bonus Scheme
Domestic means as of the home
We feel no doubt that the malis who were working in the bungalows occupied by the officers were working in the home of the officers
They were therefore on domestic work
The work they were doing would not cease to be domestic work because the bungalows belonged not to the officers but to the appellants
Whether a work 889 is domestic or not would depend on its nature
Suppose an officer has employed his own mali for working in the bungalow garden that mali would surely be on domestic work
This is not disputed
The nature of that work would not change because the the mali was working not under the orders of the officer occupying the bungalow but under the appellants nor because the bungalow did not belong to the officer but to the appellants
Nor for the same reason does the fact that the malis were employed by the appellants and not by the officers make any differences The fact that Malis might be transferred to other jobs and cease to be malis altogether is also irrelevant
On such transfer they might become entitled to bonus
The exception in paragraph 3 deprives them of the bonus only for the time they are malis on domestic and personal work
Paragraph 3 of the Bonus Scheme contemplated malis who were employees of the colliery owners and were yet on domestic work
The Tribunal thought that paragraph 3 only contemplated cases of malis appointed by the officers who were paid some allowance by the colliery owners for keeping malis in the gardens of the bungalows occupied by them
It may be that malis to engaged would be the employees of the colliery owners as the term employee is defined in the Act under which the Bonus Scheme was framed but we see no reason to restrict malis on domestic work referred to in paragraph 3 to such malis only
As we have said earlier whether a malis on domestic work or not would depend on the nature of the work
As the work which the malis with whom we are concerned did was domestic work
these malis must be deemed to be within the exception mentioned in paragraph 3
They would not cease to be malis on domestic work because they had been working in the bungalows belonging to the appellants or were under their control and orders
We further feel no difficulty in holding that 890 these malis were on personal work
The word personal is obviously used in the sence of work for an individual as distinguished from work for the Coal mine as an institution
These malis were undoubtedly working for the officers as individuals
Therefore they were on personal work
For these reasons in our view the malis in the present case were not entitled to any bonus under the Bonus Scheme
As in our opinion the order of reference does not raise any question as to whether the malis were entitled to bonus apart from the Bonus Scheme it is unnecessary for us to express any opinion on that question and we do not do so
The result is that this appeal allowed and we set aside the award of the Tribunal in so far as it is concerned with the two points of dispute earlier set out which had been referred to it
We do not think it a fit case to make any order for costs
Appeal allowed


Summary:
In exercise of the power conferred by 5 5 of the Coal Mines Provident Fund and Bonus Schemes Act 1948 the Central Government framed a Bonus Scheme for the payment of bonus to employees of coal mines
Paragraph 3 of the scheme made every employee in a coal mine eligible for a bonus except infer alia a mali on domestic and personal work
The question for consideration was whether under this paragraph the malis working in the officers  bungalows had any right to bonus  Held that these malis were not entitled to any bonus under the Bonus Scheme
Paragraph 3 contemplated malis who were employees of the colliery owners and were yet on domestic work
Domestic meant as of the home
The malis 884 who were working in the bungalows occupied by the officers were working in the homes of the officers
They were therefore on domestic work
The work they were doing did not cease to be domestic work because the bungalows belonged not to the officers but to the appellant or because they were under the control and orders of the appellant
Further these malis were on personal work
The word personal was used in the sense of work for an individual as distinguished from work for the coal mine as an institution
These malis were undoubtedly working for the officers as individuals