Civil Appeals Nos 823 826 of 1962
Appeals by special leave from the order dated March 7 1962 of the Central Government Labour Court at Delhi in LCA Nos
246 to 249 of 1962
MC Setalvad NV Phadke JP Thacker OC Mathur Ravinder Narain and JB Dadachanji for the appellants
AV Viswanatha Sastri MK Ramamurthi RK Garg DP Singh and SC Agarwal for the respondents
April 19
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by GAJENDRAGADKAR J
This group of several  appeals has been placed together for final disposal because the appeals included m the group raise a common question of law m regard to the construction of section 33C2 of the In
No 14 of 1947 hereinafter called the Act
We propose to deal with this
point m Civil Appeals Nos
823 to 826 of 1962 which have been preferred by the appellant the Central Bank of India Ltd against the respondents its employees and in accordance with our decision on the said point the other appeals included in this group would be dealt with on the merits
Civil Appeals 823 to 826 of 1962 arise out of applications made by four respondents under 143 section 33C2 of the Act
The case for each one of the respondents was that besides attending to his routine duties as clerk he had been operating the adding machine provided for use in the clearing department of the Branch during the period mentioned in the list annexed to the petition and it was alleged that as such he was entitled to the payment of Rs 10 per month as special allowance for operating the adding machine as provided for under paragraph 164b1 of the Sastry Award
On this basis each one of the respondents made his respective claim for the amount covered by the said allowance payable to him during the period specified in the calculations The appellant disputed the respondent s claims
It urged three preliminary objections against the competence of the applications
According to it the respondents could claim only non monetary benefits under the Award that were capable of computation and so section 33G2was inapplicable to their claim
It was also contended that without a reference made by the Central Government the applications were not maintainable and it was pleaded that since the applications involved a question of the interpretation of the Sastry Award they were outside the purview of section 33C2
On the merits the appellant s case was that the special allowance claimed by the respondents was payable only to the Comptists and could not be claimed by the respondents on the ground that they were operating adding machines
In support of this contention the appellant alleged that a certain amount of manipulative skill is required for the handling of a Comptometer since the operater has to execute a series of somewhat complex operations in quick succession before he can arrive at a result the art of operating a comptometer has to be learnt over several months but the work of operating the adding machine needs no special training and does not require even the skill which a typist has to show
That is why according to the appellant 144 no special allowance could be claimed by the respondents under paragraph 164b1 of the Sastry Award
The Central Government Labour Court before which these applications were made by the respondents over ruled the preliminary objections raised by the appellant and on the merits found that the respondents were entitled to claim the special allowance under the relevent clause of the Sastry Award
That is how the applications made by the respondents were allowed and the respective amounts claimed by them were ordered to be paid by the appellant
It is against this order that the appellant has come to this Court by special leave
The principal contention which has been urged before us by the appellant is one of jurisdiction
It is argued that the Labour Court has exceeded its jurisdiction m entertaining the applications made by the respondents because the claims made by respondents in their respective applications are outside the scope of section 33C2 of the Act
In dealing with this point it is necessary to read section 33C 1 Where any money is due to a workman from an employer under a settlement or an award or under the provisions of Chapter VA the workman may without prejudice to any other mode of recovery make an application to the appropriate Government for the recovery  of the money due to him and if the appropriate Government is satisfied that any money is so due it shall issue a certificate for that amount to the Collector who shall proceed to recover the same  in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue
2 Where any workman is entitled to receive from the employer any benefit which is 145 capable of being computed in terms of money
 the amount at which such benefit should be computed may subject to any rules that may be made under this Act be determined by such Labour Court as may be specified in this behalf by the appropriate Government and the amount so determined may be recovered as provided for in sub section 1
3 For the purposes of computing the money value of a benefit the Labour Court may if it so thinks fit appoint a commissioner who shall after taking such evidence as may be necessary submit a report to the Labour Court and the Labour Court shall determine the amount after considering the report of the Commissioner and other circumstances of the case
 It is common ground that section 33C1 provides for a kind of execution proceedings and it contemplates that if money is due to a workman under a settlement or an award or under the provisions of Chapter VA the workman is not compelled to take resort to the ordinary course of execution in the Civil Court but may adopt a summary procedure prescribed by this sub section
I This sub section postulates that a specific amount is due to the workman and the same has not been paid to him
If the appropriate Government is satisfied that the money is so due then it is required to issue a certificate for the said amount to the Collector and that leads to the recovery of the said amount in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue
The scope and effect of s33C1 are not in dispute before us
There is also no dispute that the word benefit used in section 33C2 is not confined merely to monetary benefit which could be converted in terms of 146 money but that it takes in all kinds of benefits which may be monetary as well as non monetary if the workman is entitled to them and in sUCh a case the workman is given the remedy of moving the appropriate Labour Court with a request that the said benefits be computed or calculated in terms of money
Once such computation or calculation is made under section 33C2the amount so determined has to be recovered as provided for in sub s1
In other words having provided for the determination of the amount due to the workman in cases falling under subs
2 the legislature has clearly prescribed that for recovering the said amount the workman has to revert to his remedy under sub section
Sub section 3 empowers the Labour Court to appoint a Commissioner for the purposes of computing the money value of the benefit and it lays down that if so appointed the Commissioner shall take such evidence as may be necessary and submit report i to the Labour Court
The Labour Court is then required to proceed to determine the amount in the light of the report submitted by the Commissioner and other circumstances of the case
This means that proceedings taken under sub section
2 maybe determined by the Labour Court itself orin a suitable case may be determined by it after receiving a report submitted by the Commissioner appointed in that behalf
It is clear that if for computing in terms of money the value of the benefit claimed by the workman an enquiry is required to be held and evidence has to be taken the Labour Court may do that itself or may delegate that work to a COmmissioner appointed by it
This position must be taken to be well settled after the decision of this Court in the Punjab National Bank Ltd VKL Kharbanda 1
The question which arises for our decision is however slightly different
It is urged by the appellant that sub section 2can be invoked by a workman Who 1 1962 1 LLJ284 147 is entitled to receive from the employer the benefit there specified but the right of the workman to receive the benefit has to be admitted and could not be a matter of dispute between the parties in cases which fall under sub section
The argument is if there is a dispute about the workman s right to claim the benefit that has to be adjudicated upon not under sub section
2 but by other appropriate proceedings permissible under the Act and since in the present appeals the appellant disputed the respondent s right to claim the special allowance the Labour Court had no jurisdiction to deal with their claim
In other words the contention is that the opening words of sub section
2 postulate the existence of and admitted right vesting in a workman and do not cover cases where the said right is disputed
On the other hand the respondents contend that sub section
2 is broad enoughI to take in all cases where a workman claims some benefit and wants the said benefit to be computed in terms of money
If in resisting the said claim the employer makes several defences all those defences will have to be tried by the Labour Court under sub section
On this argument all questions arising between the workmen and their employers in respect of the benefit which they claim t6 be computed in terms of money would fall within the scope of sub section
Before dealing with the question of construction thus raised by the parties in the present proceedings it would be material
to refer briefly to the legislative history of this provision
The Act as it was originally passed made relevant provisions on the broad basis that industrial disputes should be adjudicated upon between trade Unions or representatives of labour on the one hand and the workmen s employers on the other
That is why section 10 1 which deals with the reference of disputes to Boards Courts or Tribunals has been interpreted by this 148 Court to mean the disputes which are referable under section 101 should be disputes which are raised by the trade Unions to which the workmen belong or by the representatives of workmen acting in such a representative character
It was however realised that in denying to the individual employees a speedy remedy to enforce their existing rights the Act had failed to give due protection to them
If an individual employee does not seek to raise an industrial dispute in the sense that he does not want any change in the terms and conditions of service but wants only to implement or enforce his existing rights it should not be necessary for him to have to take recourse to the remedy prescribed by section 101 of the Act that was the criticism made against the omission of the Act to provide for speedy enforcement of individual workman s existing rights
In order to meet this criticism an amendment was made by the Legislature in 1059 by section 20 of the Industrial Disputes Appellate Tribunal Act 1950 No 48 of 1950
Section 20 of this Act provided for recovery of money due from an employer under an award or decision
This provision filled up the lacuna which was discovered because even after an award was made individual workmen were not given a speedy remedy to implement or execute the said award and so s20 purported to supply that remedy
Section 20 1  provided that if money was due under an award or decision of an industrial tribunal it may be recovered as arrears of land revenue or as a public demand by the appropriate Government on an application made to it by the person entitled to the said money
Section 202 then dealt with the cages where any workman was entitled to receive from the employer any benefit under an award or decision of an industrial tribunal which is capable of being computed in terms of money and it provided that the amount at which the said benefit could be computed may be determined
subject to the rules framed in that behalf by that industrial tribunal and the amount so determined may be recovered 149 as provided for in sub section
In other words the provisions of s20 2 roughly correspond to the provisions of s33C2 of the Act
There are however two points of distinction
Section 202 was confined to the benefits claimable by workmen under an award or decision of an Industrial tribunal and the application to be made in that behalf had to be filed before the industrial tribunal which made the said award or decision
These two limitations have not been introduced in section 33C2
Section 203 corresponds to s33C3
It would thus be noticed that section 20 of this Act provides a speedy remedy to individual workmen to execute their rights under awards or decisions of industrial tribunals
Incidentally we may add that section 34 of this Act made a special provision for adjudication as to whether conditions of service had been changed during the pendency of industrial proceedings at the instance of an individual workman and for that purpose inserted in the Act s33A
Act 48 of 1950 by which s20 was enacted came into force on May 20 1950
In 1953 the Legislature took a further step b providing for additional rights to the workmen by adding Chapter VA to the Act and passed an Amending Act No 43 of 1953
Chapter VA deals with the workmen s claims in cases of lay off and retrenchment
Section 251 which was enacted in this Chapter provided for the machinery to recover moneys due from the employers under this Chapter
It laid down inter aria that any money due from an employer
under the provisions of Chapter VA may be recovered in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue or as a public demand by the appropriate Government on an application made to it by the workman entitled to the said money
This was of course without prejudice to the workman s right to adoptany other mode of recovery
This provision shows that having created additional rights in the workmen in respect of lay off and retrenchment the 150 legislature took the precaution of prescribing a speedy remedy for recovering the
said amounts from their
employers
This Amending Act came into force on December 23 1953
About three years later the legislature passed the Industrial Disputes Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1956 No 36 of 1956
This Act repealed the Industrial Disputes Appellate Tribunal Act No 48 of 1950 section 25I in Chapter VA and inserted section 33C1 9 and 3 and section 36A in the Act
The result of these modifications is that the recovery provisions are now contained in section 33C and an additional provision is made by section 36A which deals with cases where doubt or difficulty may arise in the interpretation of any provision of an award or settlement
This Act came into force on August 28 1956
In order to make the narration of the legislative background of section 33C complete we may refer to the fact that by the Amendment ACt No 18 of 1957 two more provisions were added to Chapter VA which are numbered as section 25FF and section 25FFF
This Act came into force on June 6 1957
The legislative history to which we have just referred clearly indicates that having provided broadly for the investigation and settlement of industrial disputes on the basis of collective bargaining the legislature recognised that individual workmen should be given a speedy remedy to enforce their existing individual rights and so inserted section 33 A in the Act in 1950 and added section 33 C in 1956
These two provisions illustrate the cases in which individual workmen can enforce their rights without having to take recourse to section 101 of the Act or without having to depend upon their Union to espouse their cause
Therefore in construing section 33 C we have to bear in mind two relevant considerations
The construction 151 should not be so broad as to bring within the scope of section 33 C cases which would fall under section 101
Where industrial disputes arise between employees acting collectively and their employers they must be adjudicated upon in the manner prescribed by the Act as for instance by reference under s 101
These disputes cannot be brought within the purview of section 33C
Similarly having regard to the fact that the policy of the Legislature in enacting section 33C is to provide a speedy remedy to the individual workmen to enforce or execute their existing rights it would not be reasonable to exclude from the scope of this section cases of existing rights which are sought to be implemented by individual workmen
In other words though in determining the scope of section 33C we must take care not to exclude cases which legitimately fall within its purview we must also bear in mind that cases which fall under section 101 of the Act for instance cannot be brought within the scope of section 34C
Let us then revert to the words used in section 33C2 in order to decide what would be its true scope and effect on a fair and reasonable construction
When sub section
2 refers to any workman entitled to receive from the employer any benefit there specified does it mean that he must be a workman whose right to receive the said benefit is not disputed by the employer According to the appellant the scope of subs
2 is similar to that of sub section
1 and it is pointed out that just as under sub section
1 any disputed question about the workmen s right to receive the money due under an award cannot be adjudicated upon by the appropriate Government so under sub s2 if a dispute is raised about the workmen s right to receive the benefit in question that cannot be determined by the Labour Court
The only point which the Labour Court can determine is one in relation to the computation of the benefit in terms of money
We arc not impressed by this argument
In our opinion on a fair and reasonable construction 152 of sub section
2it is clear that if a workman s right  to receive the benefit is disputed
that may have to be determined by the Labour Court
Before proceeding to compute the benefit in terms of money the Labour Court inevitably has to deal with the question as to whether the workman has a right to receive that benefit
If the said right is not disputed nothing more needs to be done and the Labour Court can proceed to compute the value of the benefit in terms of money but if the said right is disputed the Labour Court must deal with that question and decide whether the workman has the right to receive the benefit as alleged by him and it is only if the Labour Court answers this point in favour of the workman that the next question of making necessary computation can arise
It seems to us that the opening clause of subs
2does not admit of the construction for which the appellant contends unless we add some words in that clause
The Clause Where any workman is entitled to receive from the employer any benefit does  not mean where such workman is admittedly or admitted to be entitled to receive such benefit The appellant s construction would necessarily introduce the addition of  the words admittedly or admitted to be in that clause and that clearly is not permissible
Besides it seems to us that if the appellants construction is accepted it would necessarily mean that it would be at the option of the employer to allow the workman to avail himself of the remedy provided by sub section
2 because he has merely to raise an objection on the ground that the right claimed by the workman is not admitted to oust the jurisdiction of the Labour Court to entertain the workman s application
The claim under section 33 C 9 clearly postulates that the determination of the question about computing the benefit in terms of money may in some cases
have to be preceded by an enquiry into the existence of the right and such an enquiry must be held to be incidental to the main determination 153 which has been assigned to the Labour Court by sub section
As Maxwell has observed where an Act confers a jurisdiction it impliedly also grants the power of doing all such acts or employing such means as are essentially necessary to its execution1
 We must accordingly hold that section 33C 2 takes within its purview cases of workmen who claimed that the benefit to which they are entitled should be computed in terms of money even though the right to the benefit on which their claim is based is disputed by their employers incidentally it may be relevant to add that it would be somewhat odd that under sub section
3 the Labour Court should have been authorised to delegate the work of computing the money value of the benefit to the Commissioner if the determination of the said question was the only task assigned to the Labour Court under sub section
On the other hand sub section
3 becomes intelligible if it is held that what can be assigned to the Commissioner includes only a part of the assignment of the Labour Court under sub section 2
It is however urged that in dealing with the question about the existence of a right set up by the workman the Labour Court would necessarily have to interpret the award or settlement on which the right is based and that cannot be within its jurisdiction under section 33C 2 because interpretation of awards or settlements has been specifically and expressly provided for by section 36A
We have already noticed that section 36A has also been added by the Amending Act No 36 of 1956 along with section 33C and the appellant s argument is that the legislature introduced the two sections together and thereby indicated that questions of interpretation fall within section 36A andtherefore outside section 33C 2
There is no force in
this contention
Section 36A merely provides for the interpretation of any provision of an award or settlement where any difficulty or doubt arises as 1 Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes p350
154 to the said interpretation
Generally this power is invoked when the employer and his employees are not agreed as to the interpretation of any award or settlement and the appropriate Government is satisfied that a defect or doubt has arisen in regard to any provision in the award or settlement
Sometimes cases may arise where the awards or settlements are obscure ambiguous or otherwise present difficulty in construction
It is in such cases that section 3CA can be invoked by the parties by moving the appropriate Government to make the necessary reference under it
Experience showed that where awards or settlements were defective in the manner just indicated there was no remedy available to the parties to have their doubts or difficulties resolved and that remedy is now provided by section 36A
But the scope of section 36A is different from the scope of section 33C 2 because section 36A is not concerned with the implemention or execution of the award at all whereas that is the sole purpose of section 33C 2
Whereas section 33C2 deals with cases of implementation of individual rights of workmen falling under its provisions section 36A deals merely with a question of interpretation of the award where a dispute arises in that behalf between the workmen and the employer and the appropriate Government is satisfied that the dispute deserves to be resolved by reference under section 36A
Besides there can be no doubt that when the Labour Court is given the power to allow an individual workman to execute or implement his existing individual rights it is virtually exercising execution powers in some cases and it is well settled that it is open to the Executing Court to interpret the decree for the purpose of execution
It is of course true that the executing Court cannot go behind the decree nor can it add to or subtract from the provision of the decree
These limitations apply also to the Labour Court but like the executing Court the 155 Labour Court would also be competent to interpret the award or settlement on which a workman bases his claim under section 33C 2
Therefore we feel no difficulty in holding that for the purpose of making the necessary determination under section 33C 2it would in appropriate cases be open to the Labour Court to interpret the award or settlement on which the workman s right rests
We have already noticed that in enacting section 33C the legislature has deliberately omitted some words which occurred in section 20 94 of the Industrial Disputes Appellate Tribunal Act 1950
It is remarkable that similar words of limitation have been used in section 33C 1 because section 33 C 1 deals with cases where any money is due under a settlement or an award or under the provisions of Chapter VA
It is thus clear that claims made under section 33C 1 by itself can be only claims referable to the settlement award or the relevant provisions of Chapter VA
These words of limitations are not to be found in section 33C 2 and to that extent the scope of section 33C 9 is undoubtedly wider than that of section 33C 1
It is true that even in respect of the larger class of cases which fail under section 33C 2 after the determination is made by the Labour Court the execution goes back again to section 33C 1
That is why section 33C 2 expressely provides that the amount so determined may be recovered as provided for in sub section 1
It is unnecessary in the present appeals either to state exhaustively or even to indicate broadly what other categories of claims can fall under section 33C 2
There is no doubt that the three categories of claims mentioned in section 33C 1 fall under section 33C 2 and in that sense section 33C 2 can itself be deemed to be a kind of
execution proceeding but it is possible that Claims not based on settlements awards or made under the provisions of Chapter V A may also be competent under section 33C 2 and that may illustrate its wider scope
We would however like to indicate 156 some of the claims which would not fall under section 33C 2 because they formed the subject matter of the appeals which have been grouped together for our decision along with the appeals with which we are dealing at present
If an employee is dismissed or demoted and it is his case that the dismissal or demotion is wrongful it would not be open to him to make a claim for the recovery of his salary or wages under section 33G 2
His demotion or dismissal may give rise to an industrial dispute which may be appropriately tried but once it is shown that the employer has dismissed or demoted him a claim that the dismissal Or demotion is unlawful and
therefore the employee continues to be the workman of the employer and is entitled to the benefits due to him under a preexisting contract cannot be made under section 33 C 2
If a settlement has been duly reached between the employer and his employees and it fails under section 18 9 or C3 of the Act and is governed by s19 2 it would not be open to an employee notwithstanding the said settlement to claim the benefit as though the said settlement had come to an end
If the settlement exists and continues to be operative no claim can be made under section 33C2 inconsistent with the said settlement
If the settlement is intended to be terminated proper steps may have to be taken in that behalf and a dispute that may be arise thereafter may to be dealt with according
to the other procedure prescribed by the Act
Thus our conclusion is that the scope of section 33G 2is wider than section 33G 1 and cannot be wholly assimilated with it though for obvious reasons we do not propose to decide or indicate what additional cases would fall under section 33G 2 which may not fall under section 33G 1
In this connection we may incidentally state that the observations made by this Court in the case of Punjab National Bank Ltd 1 that section 33C is a provision in the nature of execution should not be interpreted to mean that the scope of section 33G 2 is exactly the same as section 33G 1 page 238
1 1962 1 LLJ234
157 It now remains to refer to some decisions which are relevant
In Ms Kasturi and Sons PrivateLid vs Shri N Salivateeswaran 1 where this Court was considering the question about the scope and effect of section 17 of the Working Journalists Condition of Service and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1955No
45 of 1955 reference was made to the fact that the procedure prescribed by the said section 17 was different from the procedure prescribed by section 33C 2 and it was observed that under the latter provision where an employee makes a claim for some money an enquiry into the claim is contemplated by the Labour Court and it is only after the Labour Court has decided the matter that the decision becomes enforceable under section 33C 1 by summary procedure
No such enquiry was contemplated by the said section 17
In Shri Ambica Mills Co Ltd vs Shri SB Bhatt 2 section 15 of the No 4 of 1936 fell to be construed and it was held that under the said section when the authority exercises its jurisdiction which is made exclusive by section 22 it has necessarily to consider various questions incidental to the claims falling thereunder and it was added that although it would be inexpedient to lay down any hard and fast rule for determining the scope of such questions care should be taken not to unduly extend or curtail its jurisdiction As we have already indicated
we have adopted the same approach in interpreting section 33C 2
The respondents relied on the decision of the Bombay High Court in Ms Sawa tram Ramprasad Mills Co Ltd Akola vs Baliram 3
In support of the very broad construction which they seek to place on the provisions of section 33C 2
In that case the High Court was dealing with a claim made under Chapter VA of the Act 1  2  3 158 and there can be
no doubt that such a claim together with all a question incidental to its decision can be properly determined under section 33C 2
In reaching its conclusion the High Court has no doubt made certain broad and general observations in regard to the scope of the jurisdiction conferred on the Labour Court under section 33G 2
Those observations are in the nature of obiter dicta and in so far as they may be inconsistent with our present decision they should be held to be not justified by the terms of section 33C 2
In the result the preliminary point raised by the appellant that the Labour Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the respondents  applications fails and must be rejected
That takes us to the merits of the respondents  claim
We have already seen that the main basis on which the respondents have claimed the special allowance under paragraph 164 b 1 of the Sastry Award is that they have been operating upon the adding machines provided by the appellant for use in its clearing department
The appellant however has contended that the special allowance can be claimed only by Comptists and since the respondents had not even claimed that they are Comptists their applications should be rejected
For deciding this dispute
it is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the Sastry Award as they were modified by the decision of the Labour Appellate Tribunal
Chapter X of the Sastry Award deals with the problem of special allowances
In paragraph 161 of this Chapter the Sastry Tribunal observed that there were certain posts even in the clerical and subordinate grades for which an incumbent requires special qualifications or skill for the efficient discharge of his duties and so it thought that an extra payment in such cases is necessary by way of recognition of and compensation for this special skill or responsibility
In paragraph 162 the Tribunal examined three alternatives suggested for 159 its acceptance for making a provision for some special payment and it ultimately decided that a special allowance should be paid to those categories of employees who by their special qualifications or skill deserve recognition 
In paragraph 163 the Tribunal observed that the special allowance which it was about to prescribe was the minimum and it was open to the banks to pay higher allowance if they thought necessary to do so
Then followed paragraph 164 in which it specified 10 categories fit for special allowances
The first of these categories was Graduates and the claim of this category of employees was dealt with by the Tribunal in paragraph 164a
Paragraph 164b deals with the remaining 9 categories and the Comptists are the first in these 9 categories
The Tribunal provided that the Comptists should receive Rs 10 pm as special allowance in cases of all the four classes of banks ABC and D
It is on this provision that the respondents rely in support of their claim
When the Sastry Award went before the Labour Appellate Tribunal the Labour Appellate Tribunal dealt with this question in paragraph 140 of its decision
The Tribunal observed that during the course of the hearing it became clear that the nomenclature by which
particular categories of employees are described differed from bank to bank and so in order to avoid disputes between banks and their employees as to whether a particular category of employees is entitled to a special allowance under the  Award or not the Tribunal asked the banks to supply it with statements of different names given to the categories of employees for whom special allowances have been provided by the Sastry Award
Accordingly some of the banks supplied the necessary information
The Tribunal then set out eight of the categories the equivalents of which had been supplied in the statements of the banks
As against 160 the Comptists Statement No B 247 which had been supplied by the Imperial Bank of India showed that the nomenclature adopted by the said Bank in respect of the said category was adding machine operators Addressographers
Having set out these equivalents1
the Tribunal took the precaution of adding that the equivalents set out by it were helpful but did not exhaust the subject and so in the absence of data it had to be left to the banks to pay the appropriate allowances having regard to the duties and responsibilities of a post
That is how the matter ended
In the present proceedings the respondents seem to base their case on the sole basis that they are operating the adding machines and can therefore be treated as adding machine operators and they argued that since adding machine operators were equated in the statement of the Imperial Bank of India with Comptists they must be held to be Comptists for the purpose of paragraph 164 b 1 of the Sastry Award and thus entitled to the special allowance of Rs 10 
In fact in allowing the respondents  claim the Tribunal seems to have accepted this contention for it has observed that according to the decision of the Labour appellate Tribunal the adding machine operators must be held to be in the same category as Comptists
In other words the Tribunal appears to have taken the view that since the Imperial Bank of India described the employees who did the work of Comptists as adding machine operators it followed that whenever any bank employee was operating on the adding machine for howsoever small a period it may be he must be held to be a Comptists and as such entitled to the special allowance
our opinion this is clearly erroneous
It is true that the Imperial Bank of India adopted the nomenclature of adding machine operators for its Comptists and that may presumably be for the reason
that at the relevant time its Comptists were 161 doing the work of adding machine operators and Ad dressographers so that it made no difference whether the bank called them Comptists or adding machine operators or Addressographers all the three types of work being entrusted to one category of employees but however that may be the nomenclature adopted by the Imperial Bank of India cannot be said to be binding on the other banks which did not adopt it and so it is obviously erroneous to hold that the equivalent adopted by the Imperial Bank of India must be taken to have been adopted by all the other banks
Indeed the Award recently made by Mr Justice Desai who was appointed the National Industrial Tribunal in the Bank Disputes clearly brings out the distinction between Comptists on the one hand and adding machine operators addressographers and photostat machine operators on the other in paragraphs 5 242 and 5 265
In the present appeals no evidence was led on behalf of the respondents
The appellant however examined its officer Mr Shivodkar
This witness stated that an adding machine can be operated by a clerk with half an hour s practice
It only does additions mechanically
Operating a comptometer however involves complicated calculations and in order to handle it efficiently the employee has to take three months training and practising
He added that about two hours  work is put on the adding machine by the several respondents but it is included in their normal working hours
There has been some discussion at the Bar in the present appeals as to the nature of the work which is done on the comptometer and on the adding machine but there can be no doubt that compared to the comptometer the adding machine is a simple mechanism and for operating on it not much experience or technical training is required in fact it may not even require that amount of skill and efficiency which is expected of a typist and it is significant that a claim made 162 by the typists for special allowance was rejected by the Sastry Tribunal
That shows how the respondents  claim for special allowance as Comptists solely on the ground that they can be described as adding machine operators cannot be sustained
Therefore the sole basis on which the respondents  claim has been allowed by the Labour Court is unsound and so the order passed by it cannot be affirmed
It has however been urged before us by the respondents that they should be given an opportunity to substantiate their claims on the merits
It is argued that they were advised that the equivalent supplied by the Imperial Bank of India by itself furnished a firm basis for their claims and so no other allegations were made by them in the present proceedings and no evidence was led by them to prove the nature of the work done by them and the e for which they do the special kind of work to justify the claim for special allowance
On the other hand the appellant has strenuously contended that the delay made by the respondents in making the present applications speaks for itself and so no indulgence should be shown to the respondents for remanding the present cases to the Labour Court once it is found that the basis on which the claim has been allowed is not justified in law
It is true that though the Sastry ward was passed in 1953 and the Labour Appellate Tribunal s decision was pronounced in 1954 and it became final on October 21 1955 the respondents did not make their claims until 1962
We have had occasion in the past to emphasise the fact that industrial adjudication should not encourage unduly belated claims but on the other hand no limitation is prescribed for an application under section 33C2 and it would on the whole not be right for us to refuse an opportunity to the respondents to prove their case only on the ground that they moved the Labour Court after considerable delay
We would therefore 163 set aside the order passed by the Labour Court and remand the proceedings to that Court with a direction that it should allow the parties to amend their pleadings if they so desire and to lead evidence in support of their respective cases
It may be open to the respondents to prove that they are doing the work which may be properly described as the work of Comptists
In that connection it may also be open to them incidentally to show that the work which was being done in the Imperial Bank of India by the adding machine operators who were shown as equivalents of the Comptists at the relevant time is being done by them in the appellant s branches
If the Labour Court is satisfied that the work done by the respondents can be reasonably treated as the work of Comptists as properly understood in the banking industry then it should proceed to determine the respondents  claim on that basis
We have already referred to the fact that the Labour Appellate Tribunal made it perfectly clear that the particular nomenclature was not decisive and that what mattered in these cases was the nature of the duties and responsibilities of a post
If the nature of the duties and responsibilities of the posts held by the respondents legitimately Justify the conclusion that they are comptists then the special allowance can be claimed by them
It is in the light of these observations that the Labour Court should proceed to deal with these cases after remand
If the parties want to amend their pleadings they should move the Labour Court in that behalf within a fortnight after the receipt of the record in that Court
Then the Labour Court should fix an early date for taking evidence and should deal with these matters as expeditiously as possible
The result is the appeals are allowed the orders passed by the Labour Court are set aside and the matters sent back to that Court for disposal in 164 accordance with law
There would be no order as to costs
Appeals allowed
Cases remanded


Summary:
Applications were made by four respondent under s33C2 of the  contending that besides attending to their routine duty as clerks they had been operating the adding machine provided for use in the clearing department of the appellant Bank during the period mentioned in the list annexed to the petitions and hence each of them was entitled to the payment of Rs 10 p m as special allowance for operating the adding machine as provided for in para 164b1 of the Sastry Award
The appellant Bank raised certain objections but these were rejected by the Labour Court which held that the respondents were entitled to the amounts claimed 141 by them and the same were ordered to be paid
The appellants came to this Court by special leave
The contentions raised in this court were that section 33C2 did not apply in the present case and the Labour Court had exceeded its jurisdiction in entertaining the applications made by respondents as claims made by them were outside the scope of s 3332 which postulated the existence of an admitted right in a workman and did not cover cases where the said right was disputed
Moreover special allowance could be claimed only by comptists and as the respondents had not even claimed that they were comptists their applications should have been rejected
Held that section 33C2 takes within its purview cases of workmen who claim that the benefit to which they are entitled should be computed in term of money even though the right to the benefit on which their claim is based is disputed by their employers
For the purpose of making the necessary determination under section 33C2 it is open to the Labour Court to interpret the award or settlement on which the workman s right rests
There is a distinction between section 33C2 and L 36A Whereas section 33C2 deals with cases of implementation of individual rights of workmen falling under its provisions section 36A deals merely with a question of interpretation of the award where a dispute arises in that behalf between the workmen and the employer and the appropriate Government is satisfied that the dispute deserves to be resolved by reference under section 36A
The scope of section 33G2 is wider than that of section 33G1
Claims made under section 33C1 can be only those claims which are referrable to settlement award or the relevant provisions of Chapter V A but those limitations are not to be found in section 33C2
Three categories of claims mentioned in section 33C1 fall
under section 33C2and in that sense section 33C2 can itself be deemed to be a kind of execution proceeding but it is possible that claims not based on settlements awards or made under the provisions of Chapter V A may also be competent under section 33C 2
Held that respondents  claim for special allowance as camptists solely on the ground that they could be described as adding machine operators could not be sustained
No period of limitation is provided for an application under section 33C2
142 Punjab National Bank Ltd vs
KL Kharbanda 1962 1 LLJ 234 Ms Kasturi and Sons P Led
vs Shri N Saliva teeswaranb   Shri Ambica Mills Co Ltd vs Shri S B Bhatt  and Ms Sawatrum Ramprasad Mills Co Ltd Akola vs Baliram 1962 65 Born
LR 91 referred to