Case: Shri Birdhichand Sharma Vs. First Civil Judge Nagpur And Others

1. This is an appeal by special leave in an industrial matter. The appellant is the manager of a biri factory in Nagpur. Respondents 2 to 4 are working in that factory. They applied for leave for fifteen days from December 18, 1955, to January 1, 1956, and did not go to work during that period. The appellant did not pay their wages for these days and in consequence they applied to the Payment of Wages Authority (hereinafter called the Authority) for payment to them of wages which had been withheld. Their claim was that they were entitled to fifteen days leave in the year under Ss. 79 and 80 of the Factories Act, 1948. The Authority allowed the claim and granted them a sum of Rs. 90/6/- in all as wages which had been withheld for the period of leave. Thereupon, the appellant filed an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution before the High Court at Nagpur. His main contention was that respondents 2 to 4 were not workers within the meaning of the Factories Act and could not therefore claim the benefit of S. 79 thereof. The respondents contended that they were workers within the meaning of the Factories Act and were entitled to the sum awarded to them by the Authority. The High Court on a consideration of the circumstances came to the conclusion that respondents 2 to 4 were workers under S. 2(1) of the Factories Act and therefore the order of the Authority was correct and dismissed the petition. The appellant then applied for a certificate to appeal to this Court which was refused. He then obtained special leave from this Court and that is how the matter has come up before us.

Court's reasoning:
Taking the nature of the work in the present case it can hardly be said that there must be supervision all the time when biris are being prepared and unless there is such supervision there can be no direction as to the manner of work. In the present case the operation being a simple one, the control of the manner in which the work is done is exercised at the end of the day, when biris are ready, by the method of rejecting those which do not come up to the proper standard. In such a case it is the right to supervise and not so much the mode in which it is exercised which is important. In these circumstances, we are of opinion that respondents 2 to 4 work in this factory cannot be said to be independent contractors. The limited freedom which respondents 2 to 4 have of coming and going away whenever they like or of absenting themselves (presumably without leave) is due to the fact that they are piece-rate workers; but the mere fact that a worker is a piece-rate worker would not necessarily take him out of the category of a worker within the meaning of S. 2(1) of the Factories Act. Considering the entire circumstances and particularly the facts that if the worker does not reach the factory before midday he is given no work, he is to work at the factory and cannot work elsewhere, he can be removed if he is absent for eight days continuously and finally his attendance is noted and biris prepared by him are liable to rejection if they do not come upto the standard, there can be no doubt that respondents 2 to 4 are workers within the meaning of S. 2(1) of the Factories Act9. Then it was urged that even if the respondents are workers under S. 2(1), S. 79 should not be applied to them as they can absent themselves whenever they like. In this very case it is said that the respondents remained absent for a longer period than that provided in the Act and therefore they do not need any leave. This argument has in our opinion no force. The leave provided under S. 79 arises as a matter of right when a worker has put in a minimum number of working days and he is entitled to it. The fact that the respondents remained absent for a longer period than that provided in S. 79 has no bearing on their right to leave, for it they so remained absent for such period they lost the wages for that period which they would have otherwise earned. That however does not mean that they should also lose the leave earned by them under S. 79. In the circumstances they were entitled under S. 79 of the Factories Act to proportionate leave during the subsequent calendar year if they had worked during the previous calendar year for 240 days or more in the factory. There is nothing on the record to show that this was not so.