Case: S.K. Verma Vs. Mahesh Chandra and Another

with the relevant statements and the will of expenses to the Branch office.-8. Advances Deposits:In respect of business procured by you during the tour you should see that advance deposits, at least equal to full installment of first premiums, are collected from the proponents and that all such amounts are remitted to the Branch office immediately by M o., or if there is a Corporations collection Account in the town with any Bank, you should deposit the amounts immediately to the credit of the Corporation, giving full details to the Bank regarding the manner in which these amounts are to be credited. If you collect any amount as deposit towards the first premium you should always issue receipts there for in prescribed form to the parties concerned. If you permit any of your agents either requited by you or allotted to you to conduct the medical examination of a proponent without first realising an advance deposit and if such a proposal does not result in a policy the medical fees unnecessarily incurred will be debited to your account.9. Record of Daily Work:You are required to make daily entries in the prescribed form which shall give a complete record as well as the results of your daily business calls. This record must be presented to the Assistant Branch Manager (Administration) or the Branch Manager or to the Assistant Branch Manager (Development) for inspection at least once a week or at more frequent intervals, if called upon to do so.When you are on tour you will make the entries in the Daily Record and on your return to the headquarters you will submit such record for inspection as stated above.If your headquarters are not the same as the Branch office headquarters, you will submit the Daily Records in such manner as you may be asked to by the Branch Manager.You are also requested to fill in your Plan Book in consultation with your Branch Manager or Assistant Branch Manager (Development) and see that the targets of work you set f or yourself therein are reached.10. Collection of Premiums:Unless you are expressly authorised by the Corporation, you have no authority to collect premiums save the deposits towards the first premium as stated hereinabove.11. Targets:You are required as outlined in your Plan Book:(a) to secure through agents recruited by you and allotted to you a minimum life business of Rs. 5 lacs yielding first years schedule premium income of not less than Rs. 30, 000 through at least 100 policies:(b) to recruit and train 25 new agents;(c) to supervise and motivate the agents allotted to you if any and see that the average output of these agents allotted to you is increased progressively from year to year and,(d) to open 6 new centers for development.We hope you will be able to exceed these targets as your actual categorisation to be made after the expiry of probationary period will depend upon the fulfilment of these targets and your record o f post-sales service rendered to the Corporations policy holders in the area allotted to you.On the basis of the targets outlined in your Plan Book and your achievements in terms of new business, the recruitment and t raining of agents and motivating old agents to increased activity, the Corporation reserves the right to review the results of your efforts any time and to take such action as may be called for in the circumstances.12. General:You have no authority to accept risks or to bind the Corporation in any way. You are not permitted to advance premiums on behalf of the policy holders or to have policies assigned to you or to any member of your family (i. e. wife, parents and children) by policy holders who are not related to you. You are strictly forbidden to have any financial dealings with the agents of the Corporation.It is understood that your wife, your son, brother or any close relation of yours or any other member of your family living with you is not eligible for appointment as an agent of the Corporation If you operate any benami agency in the name of any person or if you are found to pass on any business to any of your agents and derive any financial benefit for yourself from this, your services will be liable to be terminated.You are not permitted to work directly or indirectly for any Insurer carrying on general Insurance business you are also not permitted to work as an agent for the National Savings organisation."6. A perusal of the above extracted terms and conditions of appointment shows that a development officer is to be a whole time employee of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. that his operations are to be restricted to a defined area and that he is liable to be transferred. He has no authority whatsoever to bind the Corporation in anyway. His principal duty appears to be to organise and develop the business of the Corporation in the area allotted to him and for that purpose to recruit active and reliable agents, to train them to canvass new business and to render post-sale services to policy-holders. He is expected to assist and inspire the agents. Even so he has not the authority to appoint agents or to take disciplinary action against them. He does not even supervise the work of the agents though he is required to train them and assist them. He is to be the friend, philosopher and guide of the agents working within his jurisdiction and no more. He is expected to stimulate and excite the agents to work, while exercising no administrative control over them. The agents are not his subordinates. In fact, it is admitted that he has no subordinate staff working under him. It is thus clear that the development officer cannot by any stretch of imagination be said to be engaged in any administrative or managerial work. He is a workman within the meaning of s. 2 (s) of the Industrial, Disputes Act.Th

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

Explanation:
1[ds]A perusal of the above extracted terms and conditions of appointment shows that a development officer is to be a whole time employee of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. that his operations are to be restricted to a defined area and that he is liable to be transferred. He has no authority whatsoever to bind the Corporation in anyway. His principal duty appears to be to organise and develop the business of the Corporation in the area allotted to him and for that purpose to recruit active and reliable agents, to train them to canvass new business and to render post-sale services to policy-holders. He is expected to assist and inspire the agents. Even so he has not the authority to appoint agents or to take disciplinary action against them. He does not even supervise the work of the agents though he is required to train them and assist them. He is to be the friend, philosopher and guide of the agents working within his jurisdiction and no more. He is expected to stimulate and excite the agents to work, while exercising no administrative control over them. The agents are not his subordinates. In fact, it is admitted that he has no subordinate staff working under him. It is thus clear that the development officer cannot by any stretch of imagination be said to be engaged in any administrative or managerial work. He is a workman within the meaning of s. 2 (s) of the Industrial, Disputes Act.The order of the Industrial Tribunal and the judgment of the High Court are set aside and the matter is remitted to the Industrial Tribunal for disposal according to law. The Industrial Tribunal may dispose of the reference within three months from the dateof receipt of this order. The respondent workman is entitled to his costs.