Case: Canara Bank Limited Vs. Anant Narayan Surkund and Others

These appeals by special leave arise from the orders of the Central Government Labour Court, Delhi, and will be dealt with together :as they raise the sameNos. 731 to 752 arc by the Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited while Appeal No. 787 is by the Canara Bank Limited. In all these appeals there were applications by the employees of the two banks under s. 33-C (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, No.14 of 1947, (hereinafter referred to as the Act), which have been allowed by theshall give the facts in appeal No. 787 in detail. The respondent in that appeal is a clerk employed by the bank at its Bandra branch and has been working there since his appointment in October 1953. The respondent claimed that he was entitled to a special allowance of Rs. 15/- per month admissible to cashiers in-charge of cash in pay offices in accordance with para 164(b) (7) of the All India Industrial Tribunal (Bank Disputes) Award, (popularly known as the Sastry award). He further claimed that he worked as cashier in-charge of cash at Worli and Bandra branches of the bank and was entrusted with the sole charge of handling cash as there was nobody else to assist him. He was doing the work both of receiving and paying and was solely responsible in respect thereof to the bank. As such he was entitled to the special allowance of Rs. 15/- per month under the Sastry award, but the bank did not pay him the amount. The respondent therefore prayed that the benefit due to him may be computed in terms of money and necessary order passed thereon. (SCR at page 260) The bank resisted the claim of the respondent and its case was (firstly) that such an application was not entertainable under s. 33-C (2) of the Act and the labour court had no jurisdiction to decide it, (secondly) that the respondent was working at a branch and not at a pay office and therefore was not entitled to any special allowance under para 164 (b) (7) of the Sastry award, and (thirdly) that in any case the respondent cannot be said to be a cashier in- charge of cash at the branch where he was working and therefore was not entitled to any allowance. The banks contention in this connection was that none of its employees was solely or singly in-charge of cash at any of its branches and therefore the respondent could not claim any special allowance, particularly as he was merely a routine clerk even though he was handling cash.The tribunal went into the evidence as to the duties of Shri A.N. Surkand respondent and found that the respondent was doing the combined work of both receiving and paying cash. It relied in this connection on a decision of Shri jeejeebhoy in a reference in Dev Karan Nanjee Banking Co. v. Workmen (Central Government Industrial Tribunal (Bombay) No. 23 of 1959.) under s. 6 of the Industrial Disputes (Banking Companies) Decision Act, 1955, and held that as the respondent was the sole clerk in the branch doing the work of both receiving and paying cash and was thus in-charge of the cash of the branch, he would be entitled to the special allowance provided for cashiers in-charge of cash at pay offices. It therefore passed an order in favour of theis no doubt that the respondent, Anant Narayan Surkand, was the sole paying and receiving clerk in the banks branch and there was no other clerk working in the cash department. The manual of instructions issued by the bank shows exactly what the procedure is in the matter of dealing with cash. According to this manual, at the commencement of the days business, the bank.% strong-room is opened by the Agent and the second key-holder who are lit joint charge with independent keys, of what may be called the double lock. An estimate of the days probable requirement is made and funds are withdrawn accordingly. The amount so withdrawn is taken by the shroff (i. e. paying-cum-receiving clerk). The box containing the shroffs overnight cash balance (single lock) is also taken out of the strong-room and is handed over to the shroff, who is to count the balance in the single lock box when receiving it in the morning. At the close of the days business, the Agent takes over the cash held by the shroff. The cash under single lock is also to be checked in the presence of the shroff. Surplus cash is returned to the Agent and all entries in the shroffs cash book relating to sums taken out and placed in the double lock are initialed by the Agent.These instructions show exactly what the shroff (i.e. paying-cum-receiving clerk) has to do during the course of the day. He receives first thing in the morning the amount in the single lock and such further sums as may be withdrawn from the double lock. He carries on both receiving and paying transactions during the course of the day with the help of the cash put at his disposal in the morning. At the end of the day he has to give an account to the Agent and if the Agent thinks that there is surplus cash after days transactions he may withdraw the surplus cash from the single lock and put it in the double lock. Thus throughout the day the receiving-cum-paying clerk is in-charge of the cash in the single lock and has to account for it at the end of the day. There is no evidence in appeal No. 787 as to who keeps the key of the single lock box, though in the other group of appeals where also the facts are similar, we have the further evidence that the key of the single lock box is kept by the paying-cum-receiving clerk, whose duties are the same as the (SCR at page 262) duties of the shroff (i. e. paying-cum-receiving clerk) in appeal No. 787. It is on this evidence that we have to determine whether the Central Government Labour Court was right in coming to the conclusion to which it did.

Court's reasoning:
We are further of opinion that there is no force in the second contention of the banks either. It is true that para 164 (b) (7) of the Sastry award speaks of cashiers in-charge of cash at pay offices. We recognise that strictly speaking a branch of the bank is not the same thing as a pay office; but the question whether the provision of para 164 (b) (7) would apply to a branch was referred to Shri jeejeebhoy for clarification under s. 6 of the Industrial Disputes (Banking Companies) Decision Act, 1955, (XLI of 1955) and Shri Jeejeebhoy held in 1959 that the use of the words "pay office" was not intended to have a restricted meaning referring only to those units which actually had the designation of pay office and would also apply to a branch in properNow routine clerks in the cash department may be paying clerks, receiving clerks or even paying-cum-receiving clerks; but they would not be entitled to any allowance unless it was shown that they were in sole charge of the cash in the single lock in the particular branch. That can only happen when there is a single clerk doing the work of both receiving and paying in the cash department of a branch, for then only it can be said that he is in sole charge of the cash in the single lock box of the bank during the working hours. The words "other than routine clerks" used in para 164 (b) are made clear by four entries in the said paragraph, namely, clauses 3, 4, 5 and 6. These clauses provide for special allowance for head cashiers. Units of 5 clerks and above (cl. 3), for head cashiers, units of four clerks and below (c). 4), for assistant cashiers (above the level of routine clerks, Units of 5 clerks and above, (cl. 5), and for assistant cashiers (above the level of routine clerks), units of four clerks and below, (cl. 6). These clauses will show that when the cash department consists of more than one person it is only one person, whether he is called the head cashier or assistant cashier, who would be in-charge and would get an allowance and not the other clerks working in the cash department who may be doing either receiving work or paying work or even both paying and receiving work. The reason why the clerks in the present appeals are entitled to allowance is that they are the sole clerks doing both receiving and paying work and they have to take charge of the single lock box in the morning and are responsible for it throughout the day and make over charge of the single-lock box in the evening when the bank closes for the day. It is only such sole clerks in the cash department of a branch who would be entitled to an allowance under cl. (7) of para 164 (b).130 of the decision of the Labour Appellate Tribunal. It seems to have been urged before the Appellate Tribunal that receiving and paying cashiers should be granted special allowance; but that was rejected. It is urged that in view of this rejection it is not open to the workmen to urge that clerks like those with whom we are concerned in the present appeals are entitled to the allowance under para 164 (b) (7). In the first place it appears to us on reading para 130 that what was contemplated therein was receiving clerks and paying clerks and not receiving-cum-paying clerks. If that is so, the rejection of the allowance for receiving clerks and paying clerks will not affect the case of receiving-cum-paying clerks. But even if the words used include receiving-cum-paying clerks that does not again mean that receiving-cum-paying clerks who are in sole charge of cash should not get the allowance under para 164 (b). It is clear to us that when the case of receiving-cum-paying clerks was rejected by the Appellate Tribunal it referred only to those receiving-cum- paying clerks who were not in- charge of cash, for it may be possible for a bank to have a receiving-cum-paying clerk along with (say) a head cashier, and in such a case it is only the head cashier who is entitled to the allowance as he would be the person in charge and supervising the work of other clerks. Lastly it is urged that if this interpretation is put on para 164 (b) (7), it will create some anomalies. It is pointed out in this connection that in cl. (4) head cashiers (units of four clerks and below) will get only Rs. 11/- in B class banks and Rs. 8/- in C class banks as special allowance while cashiers in -charge of cash like the clerks in the present appeals would get Rs. 15/- in a B class bank and Rs. 12/- in a C class bank as allowance. We however find no anomaly in the fact that cashiers in-charge of cash in pay offices (which words include branches) would get a little more as allowance than head cashiers in cl. (4) who have a unit of four clerks or less. It may well have been thought by the Sastry Tribunal that a sole cashier in-charge of cash in a cash department doing both receiving and paying work may have greater responsibility than a head-cashier with four or less clerks below him. In any case this difference in the allowance cannot in our opinion affect the clear meaning of para 164 (b) (7).In appeals 731-752, the facts are exactly the same with this addition that the sole clerk doing receiving as well as paying work in the branches of this bank further has the key of the single lock box always in his charge while in appeal No. 787 there is no evidence as to who keeps the key of the single lock box after it is put in the double lock. That in our opinion makes no difference to the responsibility and in any case would be an added reason for the sole clerks in the cash department in appeals Nos. 731 to 752 getting special allowance.