IN IN IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL CIVIL CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION APPELLATE JURISDICTION APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL CIVIL CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 5530 OF 2008 WRIT PETITION NO. 5530 OF 2008 WRIT PETITION NO. 5530 OF 2008 Supreme Petro-chem Limited ] .. Petitioners Versus 1. State of Maharashtra & 2 ors. ] .. Respondents Mr. P.K. Rele, senior counsel i/b Piyush Shah for the petitioners. Mr. C.R. Sonawane, AGP, for the respondent No.1. Mr. S.M. Chinchwadkar with Mr. Rahul Oak for the respondent No.2. Mr. S.S. Pakale for the respondent No.3. CORAM: S.B. MHASE & D.B. BHOSALE, JJ. DATED: 10TH FEBRUARY, 2009 P.C. : 1. Heard Mr. Rele, the senior counsel for the petitioners. The question involved in the present matter is with regard to the application of the Maharashtra Mathadi, Hamal and Other Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Act, 1969 and the scheme framed thereunder. Under section 5 of the said Act, if any question arises whether any scheme applies to any class of unprotected workers or employers, the matter shall be referred to the State Government and the : 2 : decision of the State Government on the question which shall be taken after consulting the Advisory Committee constituted under section 14 shall be final. Therefore, the matter was considered by the State Government and having followed the procedure and after hearing the petitioners and all other concerned, the order dated 24th June, 2008, came to be passed by the State Government holding that the Act and the Scheme is applicable to the petitioners. The said order is challenged by filing the present Petition. 2. The learned senior counsel for the petitioners invited our attention to section 1, sub- section (4) and the table below the said sub-section. He invited our attention to column No.4 of the table and thereafter he invited our attention to Sr. No.1, entry (b) from column No.2 and equally to Sr.No.5 from column No.4. In the aforesaid Sr.No.1 and 5, initially the areas have been given wherein the Act is made applicable and in column No.4 of the said schedule, the employment to which the Act applies has been specified, which reads thus: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sl.No. Areas Date Name of the employment 1 2 3 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. (a)........ (1) ............ (b) The whole of the (2) Employment in markets and : 3 : Thane and Raigad other establishments in conn- Districts excluding -ection with loading un- the Thane and Kalyan -loading, stacking, carrying Talukas of the Thane weighing, measuring (filling, District and Panvel stitching, sorting, cleaning) Taluka of the Raigad of soda ash, coal-tar, lime, District. colour chemicals, chemical products including fertilizers gunny bags, coir ropes mats, hessian cloth, hessian yarn, oil cake, husk chuni and chhal or such other work including work preparatory or incidental to such operations (3) ........... (4) ........... (5) Employment in factories and mills manufacturing colour chemicals, products including fertilizers, if such employment is in conn- -ection with loading, unloading, stacking, carrying weighing, measuring (filling stitching, sorting, cleaning) or such other work including work preparatory or inciden- -tal to such operations carried on by workers covered by entry 5 in the Schedule to this Act. (rest not relevant hence not quoted) ------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Thus, in both the entries the employments which are covered have been stated. The argument of the learned counsel is that there is a difference between the marked portion of above schedule. It is submitted that under Sr.No.1 in column 4(2) the employments which are covered are employment in markets and other : 4 : establishments in connection with loading, unloading, stacking, carrying, weighing, measuring (filling, stitching, sorting, cleaning) of soda ash, coal-tar, lime, colour chemicals, chemical products including fertilizers, gunny bags, coir ropes, ropes, mats, hessian cloth, hessian yarn, oil cake, husk chuni and chhal or such other work including work preparatory or incidental to such operations. While he invited our attention to the language in column 4 entry 5 reproduced above wherein in the wording is as reproduced above. His emphasis is that the petitioners are producing petrochemicals and thereby it is not a product covered either under 4(2) or column 4(5). He submitted that the chemicals are not covered, but only fertilizers are covered. 4. It is rather difficult to digest the arguments of the learned counsel. Basically, what we find is that the petitioners are manufacturing ploysterene and ploysterene is a combination of styrene and polybutadin. Polybutadin comes in rubber form and is not a petrochemical though it is not a natural rubber. Styrene is one of the by-product of the petrochemical which is used by the petitioner for manufacturing polysterene. Therefore, the petitioners are not manufacturing any petrochemicals, but one of the : 5 : by-product of the petrochemical is used by the petitioners to manufacture polysterene and polysterene is hard plastic. 5. All these aspects have been considered by the Government authorities and thereafter the authorities concluded that the petitioners are not dealing with petrochemicals as they have submitted. We agree with the findings of the authority. Assuming for a moment that the petitioners are dealing in petrochemicals, yet the Act will be applicable to them because the words used in this application clause referred to above is the product including the manures and thereby, every type of production has been covered. What is important to note is that the manures which are like urea etc. are also derivatives of the petrochemicals and thereby by inclusive clause the manures which could have been saved probably have been included there. Therefore, the word "product" has been used the Legislature in its wisdom with all its cognate variations and it cannot be interpreted to have a limited meaning. What we find is that the petrochemical is a part of the chemical. Chemical is the genesis while petrochemical is species of the said genesis and thereby if the chemical industry is covered it is rather difficult to hold that the petrochemical industries are not covered. : 6 : 6. What is important to be looked into is whether in this industry the work which the mathadis are carrying out is available or not. If, in that industry, the work of mathadis is available then only because the industry is dealing in some different aspect, that work cannot be given to some other unorganized workers. The basic test, after having ascertained that the industry is covered by law, is to find out that the work of mathadis is available and if it is available, the Act and the Scheme will apply to the industry. It is not disputed that the mathadi work is not available. The only distinction which was tried to be made out was with regard to petrochemicals and that, therefore, the Act is not applicable, which submission we have already rejected for the reasons stated above. We find that the Government has rightly decided the matter under section 5 and no interference is called for at the hands of this court. 7. At this stage, Mr. P.K. Rele, the senior counsel for the petitioners submitted that stay of this order may be granted. We are not in favour of granting stay because these are all unorganized workers. Their bread and butter is at stake. They must get the due wages for the work which they are doing and granting of : 7 : stay in such cases will frustrate the very object of the Act and it will interfere with the fundamental right of the workers, which we feel is likely to be prejudiced. The said request is, therefore, rejected. Mr. Rele then prayed for leave to approach the Apex Court. However, we do not find any question of importance involved in the present case and therefore, the leave is also rejected. 8. The Writ Petition is rejected. Sd/- Sd/- [D.B. [D.B. [D.B. BHOSALE, J.] BHOSALE, J.] BHOSALE, J.] [S.B. [S.B. [S.B. MHASE, J.] MHASE, J.] MHASE, J.]