Case: Mumbai Mazdoor Sangh Vs. Regional Provident Fund Commissioner Maharashtra &amp; Goa &amp; Others

observations made by the Apex Court in the case of Dharamsi Morarji Chemical Co. Ltd. (Supra):It is true that if an establishment is found, as a fact, to consist of different departments or branches and if the departments and branches are located at different places, the establishment would still be covered by the net of Section 2A and the branches and departments cannot be said to be only on that ground not a part and parcel of the parent establishment. However, on the facts of the present case, the only connecting link which could be pressed in service by the learned counsel for the appellant was the fact that the respondent- Company was the owner not only of the Ambarnath factory but also of Roha factory. On the basis of common ownership it was submitted that necessarily the Board of Directors could control and supervise the working of Roha factory also and, therefore, according to the learned counsel, it could be said that there was interconnection between Ambarnath factory and Roha factory and it could be said that there was supervisory, financial or managerial control of of the same Board of Directors. So far as this contention is concerned the finding reached by the High Court, as extracted earlier, clearly shows that there was no evidence to indicate any such interconnection between the two factories in the matter of supervisory, financial or managerial control. Nothing could be pointed out to us to contraindicate this finding. Therefore, the net result is that the only connecting link which could be effectively pressed in service by the learned counsel for the appellant for culling out interconnection between Ambarnath factory and Roha factory was that both of them were owned by a common owner, namely, the respondent Company and the Board of Directors were common. That by itself cannot be sufficient unless there is clear evidence to show that there was interconnection between these two units and there was common supervisory, financial or managerial control. As there is no such evidence in the present case, on the peculiar facts of this case, it is not possible to agree with the learned counsel for the appellant that Roha factory was a part and parcel of Ambarnath factory or it was an adjunct of the main parent establishment functioning at Ambarnath since 1921.In the above case as well, the Company had established a new concern at Roha in Kolaba District of Maharashtra State on 9/7/1977, while it had an existing factory at Ambarnath in Thane District right from the year 1921 and it was held that the new unit at Roha could not be held to be a branch or department of the Company at Ambarnath within the meaning of Section 2A of the P.F. Act. A similar view was taken by the Supreme Court in the case of Rajs Continental Exports (P) Ltd. (Supra) by relying upon the earlier decision in the case of Pratap Press. In the case of Pratap Press (Supra), the Supreme Court held,The question whether the two activities in which the single owner is engaged are one industrial unit or two distinct industrial units is not always easy of solution. No hard-and-fast rule can be laid down for the decision of the question and each case has to be decided on its own peculiar facts. In some cases the two activities each of which by itself comes within the definition of industry are so closely linked together that no reasonable man would consider them as independent industries. There may be other cases where the connection between the two activities is not by itself sufficient to justify an answer one way or the other, but the employers own conduct in mixing up or not mixing up the capital, staff and management may often provide a certain answer.11. In the instant case, as noted earlier, there was no inter transfer of the staff between two units and in addition there was no evidence to point out that the supervision and control was done by a common management team or by a common manager of both the units. The employees of respondent no.3 were appointed by it alone and they were subject to the disciplinary action by the manager of that unit. We, therefore, do not find any material to hold that the concurrent findings recorded earlier suffer from any error on the face of the record so as to cause interference in this intra court appeal and the findings of facts recorded by the respondent no.1 to hold that the respondent no.3 is not a branch/department of respondent no.2 have been confirmed by the learned Single Judge and rightly so.12. However, before we part with this judgment, we have noted with concern that the list of scheduled industries has not been updated for a considerably long time. Some of the industries like respondent no.3 or the IT industries employ a large workforce and still they do not find place in the schedule to the Act and the employees working therein and who are eligible to be given the benefits of the Act and the scheme thereunder are deprived of the such benefits. Section 4 of the Act empowers the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette to add to Schedule-I any other industry in respect of the employees whereof it is of opinion that a Provident Fund Scheme should be framed under the Act and thereupon the industry so added shall be deemed to be an industry specified in Schedule-I for the purposes of the Act. It would be, therefore, necessary for respondent no.1 to undertake a survey of all such non scheduled industries in the State of Maharashtra and take appropriate steps to submit its recommendations to the Central Government through the Ministry of Labour. We hope that such an exercise would be undertaken as expeditiously as possible and a report thereof is submitted to the Central Government along with a copy to be submitted to the Registry of this Court.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]11. In the instant case, as noted earlier, there was no inter transfer of the staff between two units and in addition there was no evidence to point out that the supervision and control was done by a common management team or by a common manager of both the units. The employees of respondent no.3 were appointed by it alone and they were subject to the disciplinary action by the manager of that unit. We, therefore, do not find any material to hold that the concurrent findings recorded earlier suffer from any error on the face of the record so as to cause interference in this intra court appeal and the findings of facts recorded by the respondent no.1 to hold thatthe respondent no.3is not a branch/department of respondent no.2 have been confirmed by the learned Single Judge and rightly so.12. However, before we part with this judgment, we have noted with concern that the list of scheduled industries has not been updated for a considerably long time. Some of the industries like respondent no.3 or the IT industries employ a large workforce and still they do not find place in the schedule to the Act and the employees working therein and who are eligible to be given the benefits of the Act and the scheme thereunder are deprived of the such benefits. Section 4 of the Act empowers the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette to add toany other industry in respect of the employees whereof it is of opinion that a Provident Fund Scheme should be framed under the Act and thereupon the industry so added shall be deemed to be an industry specified infor the purposes of the Act. It would be, therefore, necessary for respondent no.1 to undertake a survey of all such non scheduled industries in the State of Maharashtra and take appropriate steps to submit its recommendations to the Central Government through the Ministry of Labour. We hope that such an exercise would be undertaken as expeditiously as possible and a report thereof is submitted to the Central Government along with a copy to be submitted to the Registry of this Court.