Appeal No 147 of 1953 1355 Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated the 24th day of August 1951 of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Appeal No 50 of 1951 arising out of the Order dated the 19th day of June 1951 of the said Court exercising Original Jurisdiction in Misc
No 143 of 1951
M C Setalvad Attorney Generalfor India Porus A Mehta and P G Gokhale with him for the appellant
J B Dadachanji M V Jayakar and Rajinder Narain for respondent No 2 1955
March 4
The Judgment of Vivian Bose Venkatarama Ayyar and Sinha JJ
was delivered by Sinha J Jagannadhadas J delivered a separate judgment
SINHA J This is an appeal by special leave from the order of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay dated the 24th August 1951 upholding that of a single Judge of that court sitting on the Original Side dismissing the appellant s petition under article 226 of the Constitution for a writ of certiorari quashing the order dated the 23rd January 1951 passed by the 1st respondent the Authority under the hereinafter referred to as the Act
The facts leading up to this appeal may shortly be stated as follows The 2nd respondent is and has been at all material times an employee of the Central Railway formerly called the GIP Rly represented by the appellant who has been nominated by the Railway Administration as responsible for payment of wages under section 3 of the Act
Ever since 1941 the 2nd respondent has been employed by the Railway Administration as a carpenter on daily wages and has been treated as a daily rated casual labourer and has been paid his wages at the rate of Rs 3 4 0 per day
He continued receiving his wages at that rate until October 1949 without any demur and granting receipts for the wages thus received
On the 2nd December 1949 an application was made by one K N Pitkar  an official of Registered Trade Union a person 1356 permitted by the Authority under sub section 2 of section 15 of the  against the GIP Ry
administration through its Divisional Engineer Parel Bombay
It was alleged on behalf of the 2nd respondent that his wages due in respect of six months from May to October 1949 amounting to Rs 245 had not been paid or had been subjected to illegal deductions as shown in the schedule
The schedule will be set out hereinafter
A claim for Rs 245 plus Rs 15 by way of compensation was made
The appellant as the opposite party before the Authority resisted the claim inter alia on the grounds 1 that Rs 245 had not been illegally deducted from the wages of the 2nd respondent and 2 that the claim of the 2nd respondent who was employed as a daily rated casual labourer on specified daily wages to be placed on a permanent cadre on the scale of monthly rates of pay was unfounded
It was further alleged that the 2nd respondent did not come within the purview of the Railway Services Revision of Pay Rules as he was a daily rated casual labourer charged to works and that no rules had been laid down governing the rates of pay and the conditions of service of daily rated casual laborers like the 2nd respondent
Hence his terms of service were the daily wages paid to him all along
It was thus contended that there had been no deduction from his wages
In this connection reference was made to the award of the Railway Workers Classification Tribunal dated the 28th May 1948
The Authority by its orders dated the 23rd January 1951 decided that the position of the 2nd respondent was not that of a casual labourer but that of a temporary employee and that therefore he was entitled to be on the scale of Rs 55 150 plus the allowances admissible
In coming to this conclusion the Authority observed that the work done by the 2nd respondent is of the same nature as that of a member of the permanent staff
Hence the 2nd respondent could not be called a casual labourer
It also made reference to 1357 article 39 d of the Constitution containing the direction that there should be equal pay for equal work
The Authority also negatived the contention raised on behalf of the appellant that the question of classification of an employee was outside its jurisdiction
In pursuance of the said order the Authority allowed the 2nd respondent s application by its further orders dated the 2nd March 1951
Against the said orders of the Authority the appellant moved the High Court of Judicature at Bombay by an application under article 226 of the Constitution for quashing the aforesaid orders
The matter was heard in the first instance by a learned single Judge of that court who by his orders dated the 19th June 1951 dismissed the application
The appellant preferred an appeal under the Letters Patent which was heard by a Division Bench of that court
The Division Bench by its order dated the 24th August 1951 dismissed the appeal and agreed with the conclusions of the Judge on the Original Side that the Authority had not acted without jurisdiction or had not exceeded its jurisdiction in entertaining the 2nd respondent s application
On the appellant s application for leave to appeal to this court being rejected by the High Court the appellant moved this court and obtained special leave to appeal on the 2nd February 1953
The main controversy between the parties in this court is whether having regard to the relevant provisions of the Act the 1st respondent was competent to pass the orders it did which orders had been upheld by the High Court of Bombay
The Authority set up under section 15 of the statute in question is undisputably a tribunal of limited jurisdiction
Its power to hear and determine disputes must necessarily be found in the provisions of the Act
Such a tribunal it is undoubted cannot determine any controversy which is not within the ambit of those provisions
On examining the relevant provisions of the Act it will be noticed that it aims at regulating the payment of wages to certain classes of persons employed in industry
It applies 1358 in the first instance to the payment of wages to persons employed in any factory or employed by a railway administration but the State Government has the power after giving three months notice to extend the provisions of the Act or any of them to the payment of wages to any class of persons employed in any class or group of industrial establishments
Wages means all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money which would if the terms of the contract of employment express or implied were fulfilled be payable  to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment  omitting words not necessary for our present purpose
Section 3 lays down that every employer or his re presentative or nominee shall be responsible for the payment to persons employed by him of all wages Section s provides for fixation of wage periods  which shall not exceed one month in any case
Section 5 indicates the last date within which with reference to the particular wage period wages shall be paid
Section 7 lays down that the wages of an em ployed person shall be paid to him without deductions of any kind except those authorized by or under the Act
Section 72 in clauses a to k specifies the heads under which deductions from wages may be made namely fines deductions for absence from duty deductions for damage to or loss of goods of the employer deductions for house accommodation supplied by the employer deductions for amenities and services supplied by the employer deductions for recovery of advances or for adjustment of overpayments of wages deductions of income tax payable by the employee deductions to be made under orders of a court or other competent authority deductions for subscriptions to and for repayment of advances from any provident fund deductions for payments to cooperative societies etc and finally deductions made with the concurrence of the employed person in furtherance of certain schemes approved by Government
No other deductions are permissible
It is also laid 1359 down that every payment made by the employed person to the employer or his agent shall be deemed to be deduction from wages
Each of the several heads of deductions aforesaid is dealt with in detail in sections 8 to 13
Section 8 lays down the conditions and limits subject to which fines may be imposed and the procedure for imposing such fines
It also requires a register of such fines to be maintained by the person responsible for the payment of wages
Section 9 deals with deductions on account of absence from duty and prescribes the limits and the proportion thereof to wages
Section 10 similarly deals with deductions for damage or loss to the employer and the procedure for determining the same
Like section 8 this section also requires a register of such deductions and realizations to be maintained by the person responsible for the payment of wages
Section 11 lays down the limits of deductions for house accommodation and other amenities or services which may have been accepted by the employee subject to such conditions as the State Government may impose
Section 12 lays down the conditions subject to which deductions for recovery of advances may be made from wages
Finally section 13 provides that the deductions for payment to co operative societies and insurance schemes shall be subject to such conditions as the State Government may prescribe
Section 14 makes provision for the appointment of Inspectors for carrying out the purpose of the Act with power to enter on any premises and to examine any registers or documents relating to the calculation or payment of wages and to take evidence on the spot
His function is to see that the registers or documents prescribed by the Act containing the necessary entries as regards deductions and other matters have been properly kept by the employers or their agents in order to be able to ascertain whether any deductions from wages in excess of the provisions of sections 7 to 13 aforesaid have been made
We then come to section 15 which makes provision for the appointment of the Authority to hear and decide for any specified area all claims arising out of deductions from the wages or delay in payment of 174 1360 the wages of persons employed or paid in that area
Where the Authority finds that any deduction has been made from the wages of an employed person or the payment of any wages had been delayed he may at the instance of the wage earner himself or any legal practitioner or any official of a registered trade union authorized in writing to act on his behalf or any Inspector under the Act or any other person acting with the permission of the Authority after making such enquiry as he thinks fit and after giving an opportunity to the person responsible for the payment of wages under section 3 to show cause direct the refund to the employed person of the amount deducted or the payment of delayed wages together with such compensation as he may determine
The section also lays down the limits and conditions of his power to direct payment of compensation to the employed person or of penalty to the employer if he is satisfied that the application made on behalf of an employee was either malicious or vexatious
His determination is final subject to a very limited right of appeal under section 17
Section 18 vests the Authority with all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure for the purpose of taking evidence of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and of compelling the production of documents
Section 22 lays down that no court shall entertain any suit in respect of wages or of deduction from wages in so far as the claim forms the subject matter of a pending proceeding under the Act or has formed the subject of a direction in favour of or against the plaintiff under section 15 or which could have been recovered by the application under that section
Section 26 empowers the State Government to make rules to regulate the procedure to be followed by the authorities and courts referred to in sections 15 and 17 and provides that rules may be made inter alia requiring the maintenance of records registers returns and notices necessary under the Act and the display in a conspicuous place of notices specifying the rates of wages payable to persons employed on such premises and prescribing the authority for making a list of 1361 acts and omissions in respect of which fines may be imposed and the procedure for imposing such fines
We have set out above in some detail the relevant provisions of the Act in order to point out that those provisions are not applicable to the complaint made in the present case
In this connection it is necessary to set out in extenso the particulars of claim in the schedule appended to his application which are as follows The applicant is working as a carpenter mason with the opposite party under IOW Byculla
According to the orders on introduction of the prescribed scales the Railway Administration has to make the staff working under IOW on permanent monthly wages scheme under the rules of the prescribed scales
The applicant along with others was up till now under daily wages scheme
About 20 posts under IOW where the applicant is working were to be made per manent
The opposite party in supersession of claim of the applicant has confirmed his juniors on the permanent scales as a skilled workman in the scale of 55 3 85 4 125 5 130 whereas the opposite party continued to pay the applicant on daily wages scheme thus depriving him of his legitimate wages under the prescribed scale which resulted in the monetary loss to the applicant of Rs 40 13 4 per month
Notice on behalf of the applicant was served on this count on the opposite party but of no avail and hence this application
The juniors have been paid under the prescribed scales from April 1949 from which date the applicant was also entitled to the prescribed scale 55 130 scale for skilled workman
There is no allegation of delay in payment of wages inasmuch as it is not the respondent s case that his wages were not paid within the time limit laid down in section 5 nor are there allegations to show that any payments have been made by the employed person to the employer or his agent which could be deemed to be a deduction from his wages within the meaning of section 7
None of the categories of deductions as laid down in section 7 have been referred to
In other words it is not alleged that his Wages 1362 were so much and that so much had been deducted under any of the heads set out under section 72
The allegations made by the respondent only amount to saying that he had been paid his actual wages as fixed by the railway administration but that after the introduction of the scheme of upgrading of persons employed under the daily wages scheme others who were junior to him had been placed on the monthly wages scheme whereas his claim to be so placed had been ignored
The respondent s main grievance therefore appears to be that he had not been paid wages on the scale to which he would have been entitled if he had been placed on the monthly wages scheme
In our opinion the scheme of the Act as set forth above shows that if an employee were to state that his wages were say Rs 100 per month and that Rs 10 had been wrongly deducted by authority responsible for the payment of wages that is to say that the deductions could not come under any one of the categories laid down in section 7 2 that a would be a straight case within the purview of the Act and the authority appointed under section 15 could entertain the dispute
But it is said on behalf of the respondent that the authority has the jurisdiction not only to make directions contemplated by sub section 3 of section 15 to refund to the employed person any amount unlawfully deducted but also to find out what the terms of the contract were so as to determine what the wages of the employed person were
There is no difficulty in accepting that proposition
If the parties entered into the contract of service say by correspondence and the contract is to be determined with reference to the letters that passed between them it may be open to the authority to decide the controversy and find out what the terms of the contract with reference to those letters were
But if an employee were to say that his wages were Rs 100 per month which he actually received as and when they fell due but that he would be entitled to higher wages if his claims to be placed on the higher wages scheme had been recognized and given effect to 1363 that would not in our opinion be a matter within the ambit of his jurisdiction
The authority has the jurisdiction to decide what actually the terms of the contract between the parties were that is to say to determine the actual wages but the authority has no jurisdiction to determine the question of potential wages
The respondent s complaint in the present case comes within the latter illustration
If the respondent s claim to be placed on the scheme of higher wages had been
unduly passed over by the appellant if indeed he had the power to do so the obvious remedy of the respondent was to approach the higher authorities of the railway administration by way of departmental appeal or revision but instead of doing that he has sought his redress by making his claim before the authority under the Act
The question is has the authority the power to direct the appellant or his superior officers who may have been responsible for the classification to revise the classification so as to upgrade him from the category of a daily wageearner to that of an employee on the monthly wages scheme
If the respondent had been on the cadre of monthly wages and if the appellant had withheld his rise in wages to which he was automatically entitled without any orders of his superior officers be might justly have claimed the redress of his grievance from the authority under the Act as it would have amounted to an underpayment
But in the present case on the case as made on behalf of the respondent orders of the superior officers were necessary to upgrade him from a daily wage earner to a higher care
The authority under the Act has not been empowered under section 15 to make any such direction to those superior officers
The appellant is responsible to pay the respondent only such wages as are shown in the relevant register of wages presumably maintained by the department under the provisions of the Act but he cannot be directed to pay the respondent higher wages on the determination by the authority that he should have been placed on the monthly wages scheme
In that view of the matter it is not necessary to go 1364 into the merits of the controversy as to what classification as adumbrated by the Railway Workers  Classification Tribunal and adopted by the Railway administration the second respondent should have been brought under
If that question were open to determination by the Authority we would have had to remit the case to the Authority to give a fresh opportunity to the parties to adduce all the relevant evidence and then to come to its final conclusions as it appeared to us during the hearing of the case that all relevant information had not been placed before the Authority
But as in our opinion that is not a matter within its limited jurisdiction that contingency does not arise
For the reasons given above we allow this appeal quash the orders of the Authority and of the High Court but in the special circumstances of this case we make no order as to costs
JAGANNADHADAS J I regret that I find myself unable to agree
The second respondent before us employed as a carpenter in the Railway since 1941 has been working as a daily rated casual labourer
He claimed that he should have been absorbed as a monthly rated permanent employee and that he has been wrongly superseded
His claim to be treated as a permanent employee was apparently not accepted by the Tribu nal the Authority under section 15 of the for Bombay
But it was held that the position of the applicant is not that of a daily rated casual labourer but that of a monthly rated temporary employee
His claim was treated and upheld by the Tribunal as one substantially based on the ground that the Award of the Railway Workers  Classification Tribunal in relation to the recommendations of the Central Pay Commission was approved by the Railway Board and directed to be implemented and that by virtue thereof he was no longer a mere casual labourer but was entitled to higher wages on the footing of a monthly rated labourer
No question arises that the order of the Tribunal is bad owing to the 1365 variation between the claim made and the relief granted
As held by the High Court pleadings in these cases have to be liberally construed
That his claim was understood as having been based on the Award of Railway Workers  Classification Tribunal by the Railway Authorities themselves is clear from the statement filed on their behalf in answer to the J employee s claim
Apart from the question of jurisdiction the defence was two fold
1 The applicant being a daily rated casual labourer charged to works the directive of the Railway Board did not apply to him
2 Even if it applied to a person in the situation of the applicant he was not entitled to be brought on to the monthly rates of pay in the skilled grade without his previously passing a trade test to establish himself as skilled in his trade and he did not pass the test
The Tribunal
on the material referred to by it in its order came to the conclusion 1 that the applicant did not fall within the category of workcharged staff 2 that under the Award of the Railway Workers  Classification Tribunal no trade test was necessary for the applicant who was a carpenter and 3 that as per certain instructions of the concerned authority the period of casual labour was to be limited to six months and that since this applicant was admittedly a casual labourer under the Railway for a much larger period ie since 1941 he became entitled to be treated as a temporary employee and not as a casual labourer and to receive wages as such
Whether these conclusions are right or wrong is not the question before us
The only question is whether or not the Tribunal had the jurisdiction to find that the applicant was entitled to the emoluments of a monthly rated temporary employee and not to that of a daily rated casual labourer as the result of the order of the Railway Board directing implementation of the Award of the Classification Tribunal
The jurisdiction of the Tribunal arises under section 15 of the Act IV of 1936 hereinafter referred to as the Act
The Tribunal is set up to decide all claims arising out of deductions from the wages or delay in payment of 1366 wages
The relief which it is authorised to awardis to direct the refund of the amount deducted or the payment of the wages delayed
Such a direction made by the Tribunal is final under section 17 of the Act subject to the right of appeal provided therein
Under section 22 no suit lies in any court for the recovery of wages or of any deduction therefrom which could have been recovered by an application under section 15
However limited this jurisdiction of the Tribunal and however elaborate the provisions in the Act for the preparation and display by the employer of the table of wages payable to the employees and for the inspection thereof by the Factory Inspectors it cannot be supposed that the jurisdiction of the Tribunal is only to enforce the wages so displayed or otherwise admitted
Such a narrow construction would rob the machinery of the Act of a great deal of its utility and would confine its application to cases which are not likely to arise often in a wellordered administration like the Railways
Indeed I do not gather that such a construction was pressed for before us in the arguments
Even a Tribunal of limited jurisdiction like the one under consideration must necessarily have the jurisdiction to decide for itself the preliminary facts on which the claim or dispute before it depends
In the instant case it must have jurisdiction to decide what the wages payable are and for that purpose what the contract of employment and the terms thereof are
The judgment of my learned brothers in this case apparently recognizes the jurisdiction of the Tribunal as above stated when it said that the Tribunal has the power to find out what the terms of the contract were to determine what the wages of the employed person were
Whether the Tribunal s decision in this behalf is conclusive or not is a matter that does not arise for decision in this case
But it is said that the Tribunal has no authority to determine the question of potential wages
Undoubtedly a claim to a higher potential wage cannot be brought in under the category of claim arising out of deduction from the wages or delay in pay 1367 ment of the wages if that wage depended on the determination by a superior departmental or other authority as to whether or not a particular employee is entitled to the higher wage a determination which involves the exercise of administrative judgment or discretion or certification and which would in such a situation be a condition of the payability of the wage
But where the higher wage does not depend upon such determination but depends on the applica tion of and giving effect to certain rules and orders which for this purpose must be deemed to be incorporated in the contract of employment such a wage is in my view not a prospective wage merely because the paying authority concerned makes default or commits error in working out the application of the rules
In this context it is relevant to notice that the definition of wages in the Act is all remuneration which would if the terms of the contract express or implied were fulfilled be payable
The word were in this definition which I have underlined seems to indicate that even a prospective wage which would be payable on the proper application of the rules in the sense which I have explained above may well fall within its scope
he wage under the Act is not necessarily the immediately pre existing wage but the presently payable wage
In the case before us the order of the Tribunal proceeded on the view that the applicant was presently entitled to be treated as a monthly rated temporary employee and not as a daily rated casual labourer by virtue of the directions of the Railway Board for the implementation of the scheme of classification and that therefore he was entitled to the appropriate higher wage
We have not been shown any material to indicate that this higher classification of the applicant depended not on the mere application of the classification scheme and the rules thereunder to him but upon any determination by a departmental higher authority
If it was the latter undoubtedly the Tribunal cannot claim to sit in judgment over that determination whether it was right or wrong
Such 175 1368 determination if wrong could be corrected only by a further departmental appeal if any available
But the Tribunal had to my mind the authority to find whether the applicant s case falls within the scope of determination by the departmental authority or is one of mere application of the rules to the facts of this case
If the decision of the Tribunal in this behalf was wrong the appropriate remedy for the Railway Authority was by way of an appeal under section 17 of the Act
Since the finding of the Tribunal in this case involved the case of as many as six persons and the net additional amount ordered was a sum of Rs 1341 its finding was appealable under section 17 of the Act
Whether or not an employee was entitled to wages of a higher category than what he was till then drawing would depend entirely on the scope of the rules with reference to which he is entitled to become one in the higher category and it cannot be assumed a priori that such a claim is a claim to prospective wages
In my view therefore there is no sufficient reason to reverse the judgment of the learned Judges of the Bombay High Court and this appeal should be dismissed with costs
BY THE COURT
In accordance with the decision of the majority the appeal is allowed and the orders of the Authority and of the High Court are quashed
There will be no order as to costs throughout
Appeal allowed


Summary:
The second respondent had been an employee of the Central Railway as a daily rated casual labourer on specified daily wages since 1941
He continued to receive his wages at the specified rate until October 1949
In October 1949 he made an application through an official of the Registered Trade Union a person permitted by the authority under sub section 2 of section 15 of the Payment of Wages Act 1936 claiming his wages due in respect of six months from May to October 1949
The respondent did not allege delay in the 1354 payment of his wages or deduction of his wages in contravention of the provisions of section 5 or section 7 of Act IV of 1936 respectively
The respondent alleged that he had been paid his actual wages as fixed by the railway administration but that after the introduction of the scheme of upgrading of persons employed under the daily wages scheme others who were junior to him had been placed on the monthly wages scheme whereas his claim to be so placed had been ignored and that he had not been paid wages on the scale to which he would have been entitled if he had been placed on the monthly wages scheme
Held per SINHA J VIVIAN BosE and VENYATARAMA AYYAR JJ
concurring JAGANNADHADAS J dissenting that the respondent s complaint fell under the category of potential wages and the authority appointed under the Act had no jurisdiction to decide the question of potential wages
It had the jurisdiction to decide what actually the terms of the contract between the parties were that is to say to determine the actual wages
On the case as made on behalf of the respondent orders of the superior officers were necessary to upgrade him from a daily wageearner to a higher cadre
The authority under the Act has not been empowered under section 15 to make any such direction to the superior officers
Per JAGANNADHADAS J Undoubtedly a claim to a higher potential wage cannot be brought in under the category of claim arising out of deduction from the wages or delay in payment of the wages if that wage depended on the determination by a superior departmental or other authority as to whether or not a particular employee is entitled to the higher wage a determination which involves the exercise of administrative judgment or discretion or certification and which would in such a situation be a condition of the payability of the wage
But where the higher wage does not depend upon such determination but depends on the application of and giving effect to certain rules and orders which for this purpose must be deemed to be incorporated in the contract of employment such a wage is not a prospective wage merely because the paying authority concerned makes default or commits error in working out the application of the rules
The wage under the Act is not necessarily the immediately pre existing wage but the presently payable wage
Whether or not an employee was entitled to wages of a higher category than what he was till then drawing would depend entirely on the scope of the rules with reference to which he is entitled to become one in the higher category and it cannot be assumed a priori that such a claim is a claim to prospective wages
On the facts of the case as found the dispute as to the wage was one that fell within the jurisdiction of the authority concerned