Appeal No 274 of 1964
494 Appeal by special leave from the award dated May 31 1963 of the Industrial Tribunal Maharashtra in Reference IT No 59 of 1963
section B Naik and K R Chaudhury for the appellants
section V Gupte Solicitor General G B Pal J B Dadachanji O C Mathur and Ravinder Narain for respondent No 1
A section R Chari K Raiendra Chaudhury M section K Aiyangar and M R K Pillai for respondent No 2
A section R Chari M K Ramamurthi for interveners
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Wanchoo J
The only question raised in this appeal by spe cial leave is the propriety of a service condition in the respondent concern by which unmarried women in a particular department have to resign on their getting married
A dispute was raised about this condition by the appellant union on behalf of the workmen and was referred to the Industrial Tribunal Maharashtra in the following terms The existing bar on ladies that on their getting married they have to leave the service of the company should be removed
 The respondent is a pharmaceutical concern
It appears that there is a rule in force in the respondent concrn according to which if a lady workman gets married her services are treated as automatically terminated
It appears that such a rule is in force in other pharmaceutical concerns in that region and the matter came up on two occasions before industrial tribunals for adjudication with reference to other pharmaceutical concerns and on both occasions the challenge by the workmen to such a rule failed
On the first occasion the dispute was between the Boots Pure Drug Co India Limited vs Their Workmen1 and a similar rule was upheld in 1956
On the second occasion the dispute was between Sandoz India Limited vs Workmen employed under it2
There was agitation in the respondent concern in connection with this rule and the present reference was eventually made in February 1963
The tribunal followed its earlier decision in Sandoz Limited case2  and rejected the contention that the rule be abrogated
The appellant obtained special leave to appeal from this Court and that is how the matter has come up before us
1 BGG Part I L dated Jan 261966
2 1962 Industrial Court Reporter 22
495 Ordinarily we see no reason for such a rule requiring un married women to give up service on marriage particularly when it is not disputed that no such rule exists in other industries
It is also not in dispute that no such rule exists in other departments of the respondent concern itself and it is only in one department that the rule is in force
It can only be upheld if the respondent shows that there are good and convincing reasons why in this particular department of the pharmaceutical industry it is necessary to have such a rule
The only reason given for enforcement of this rule in this department of the respondent concern is that the workmen have to work in teams in this department and that requires that they should be regular and that this cannot be expected from married women for obvious reasons and that there is greater absenteeism among married women than among unmarried women or widows against whom there is no bar of this kind
We are not impressed by these reasons for retaining a rule of this kind
The work in this department is not arduous for the department is concerned with packing labelling putting in phials and other work of this kind which has to be done after the pharmaceutical product has been manufactured
Nor do we think that because the work has to be done as a team it cannot be done by married women
We also feel that there is nothing to show that married women would necessarily be more likely to be absent than unmarried women or widows
If it is the presence of children which may be said to account for greater absenteeism among married women that would be so more or less in the case of widows with children also
The fact that the work has got to be done as a team and presence of all those workmen is neces sary is in our opinion no disqualification so far as married women are concerned
It cannot be disputed that even unmarried women or widows are entitled to such leave as the respondent s rules provide and they would be availing themselves of these leave facilities
The only difference in the matter of absenteeism that we can see between married women on the one hand and unmarried women and widows on the other is in the matter of maternity leave which is an extra facility available to married women
To this extent only married women are more likely to be absent than unmarried women and widows
But such absence can in our opinion be easily provided for by having a few extra women as leave reserve and can thus hardly be a ground for such a drastic rule as the present which requires an unmarried woman to resign as soon as she marries
We have been unable to understand how it can be said that it is necessary in the interest of efficient ope 496 ration and in the company s economic interest not to employ married women
So far as efficient operation is concerned it can hardly be said that married women would be less efficient than unmarried women or widows so far as pure efficiency in work is concerned apart of course from the question of maternity leave
As to the economic interest of the concern we fail to see what difference the employment of married women will make in that connection for the emoluments whether of an unmarried woman or of a married woman are the same
The only difference between the two as we have already said is the burden on account of maternity leave
But as to that the respondent contends that the reason for having this rule is not the respondent s desire to avoid the small burden to be placed on it on account of maternity leave
If that is so we fail to see any justification for a rule of this kind which requires an unmarried woman to give up service immediately she marries
We are therefore of opinion that there is no good and convincing reason why such a rule should continue in one department of the pharmaceutical industry
The fact that such a rule exists in other such concerns is no justification if the rule cannot be justified on its own merits
Then it is urged that the employer was free to impose any condition in the matter of employment when he employs a now workman and that industrial adjudication should not interfere with this right of the employer
AR that need be said in this connection is that it is too late in the day now to stress the absolute freedom of an employer to impose any condition which he likes on labour
It is always open to industrial adjudication to consider the conditions of employment of labour and to vary them if it is found necessary unless the employer ran justify an extraordinary condition like this by reasons which carry conviction
In the present case the reasons which the respondent has advanced and which were the basis of the two decisions referred to earlier do not commend themselves to us as sufficient for such a rule
We are therefore of opinion that such a rule should be abrogated in the interest of social justice
Lastly it is urged that a similar rule exists in certain government services and in this connection our attention is drawn in particular to r 53 of the 1954 Indian Administrative Service Recruitment Rules
That rule reads as follows  No married woman shall be entitled as of right to be appointed to the Service and where a woman appointed to the Service subsequently marries the Central Government may if the maintenance of the 497 efficiency of the Service so requires call upon her to resign
 It will be seen that this rule for the Indian Administrative Service is not unqualified like the rule in force in the respondent s concern
It only lays down that where an unmarried woman marries subsequently the Central Government may if the maintenance of the efficiency of the Service so requires call upon her to resign
Therefore this rule does not compel unmarried women to resign on marriage as a matter of course as is the case in the respondent concern
It is only when the Central Government considers that marriage has impaired the efficiency of the woman concerned that the Central Government may call upon her to resign
The rule which is in force in the respondent concern however assumes that merely by marriage the efficiency of the woman employee is impaired and such an assumption in our opinion is not justified
At any rate this rule for the Indian Administrative Service which has been brought to our notice only for purposes
of comparison does not justify the drastic rule that we have in the present case where an unmarried woman is compelled to resign immediately she marries without regard to her continued efficiency
On a careful consideration of the reasons advanced on behalf of the respondent in support of the existing rule we are of opinion that the reasons do not justify such a drastic rule
We therefore allow the appeal and direct that the rule in question in the form in which it exists at present be abrogated
The abrogation shall take effect from the date of this judgment
The appellants will get their costs from the respondent company
Appeal allowed


Summary:
The respondent concern had a rule in its packing and labelling department that if a woman employee got married her service would stand automatically terminated
The appellant union raised an industrial dispute on this question and it was referred to the Industrial Tribunal Maharashtra
The Tribunal held that the rule was justified whereupon the appellant came to this Court by special leave
The justification given on behalf of the respondent for the said rule was that in the particular department where the rule operated team work was required for which regular attendance was necessary and married women for obvious reasons could not be expected to be regular in attendance
It was also contended for the respondent that industrial adjudication should not interfere with the employer s right to impose any condition in the matter of employment when he employs new workmen
Rule 53 of the Indian Administrative Service Recruitment Rules 1964 was referred to as carrying a similar condition
HELD i There was nothing to show that married women would by the more likely to be absent than unmarried women or widows
The only difference was that married women would ask for maternity leave
This could be provided for by having a few extra women as leave reserve
So far as efficiency was concerned it could hardly be said that married women would be less efficient than unmarried ones or widows
The economic interest of the concern was also not affected in any material way
There was thus no good and convincing reason why such a rule should continue in one department of the pharmaceutical industry
The fact that such a rule existed in other concerns also was no justification if the rule could not be justified on its own merits
The rule therefore had to be abrogated
495E G H 496A B D ii It is too late in the day to stress the absolute freedom of an employer to impose any condition which he likes on labour
It is always open to industrial adjudication to consider the conditions of employment of labour and to vary them if it is found necessary
496 E F iii Rule 53 of the Indian Administrative Service Recruitment an unmarried woman marries subself the maintenance of the efficiency her to resign
This rule does on marriage as a matter of course as the case of the respondent concern
497 B C