Case: Nagpur Electric Light &amp; Power Co., Ltd Vs. Regional Director Employees State Insurancecorporation, Et

The company and the employees filed two separate applications before the Employees insurance Court under S. 70 of the Act for the determination of the question. Their case is that out of the five categories of staff mentioned in appendices 1 to 5 to the companys petition, those connected with the receiving station and workshop (appendices 1 and 2) were employees within the meaning of S. 2(9), but those connected with the engineering, stores and outdoor work, meter, consumers and allocation departments and administration Appendices 3, 4 and 5) were not such employees. The Regional Director. Employees State insurance Corporations contested the applications, but he admitted that the workers of the categories mentioned in items .5 to 14 of appendix 4 and items 1, 7 and 8 of appendix 5 of appendix 5 were not employees within the meaning of S. 2 (9). The Employees; Insurance Court found that those workers and also the workers mentioned in item 12 of appendix .5 were not such employees. The correctness of this finding is not in issue in these appeals and we express no opinion on it. The categories of workers mentioned in Appendix III, items 1 -4 in Appendix IV and items 2-6 and 9-11 of Appendix V are as follows:"Appendix III      Mains Senior: (1) assistant engineers, (a) supervisors (3) electricians, (4) overseers.      Main junior : (1) cable jointers; (2) mistries, (3) sub-mistries (4) lineman-H.T.O.H. mains, (5) mains coolies, (6) mains coolies temporary, (7) wireman temporary, (8) sub-mistries, (9) sub-station attendants.      Clerical staff: (1) clerk to asstt. engineers, (2) draughtsman, (3) mains office peons.      Stores department: (1) storekeeper, (2) asst. store-keeper, (3) clerks, (4) coolies.      Motor car staff: (1) motor drivers, (2)motor cleaners Mason.      Appendix IV      Meter senior and junior: (1) deputy meter superintendent, (2) senior meter mechanie, (3) junior meter mechanic, (4) meter testers.      Appendix V      (2). accounts department: accountant, chief cashier, asst. accountant, account clerks, clerks.      (3) Time-keeping department: group head, clerks.      (4) Filing department: group head, clerks.      (5) Typing department; Steno-typists, typists.      (6) Telephone operators.      (9) Record-keeper and daftari.      (9A) Station clerk.      (10) Motor car staff: mechanic, drivers, cleaners.      (11) Menial staff: peons, garden malies, chowkidars, sweepers, rejas temporary."2. The Employees Insurance Court held that the aforesaid workers were employess within the meaning of S. 2 (9) of the Act. The company and the employees filed two separate appeals from this decision to the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench) under S. 82 of the Act. Abhyankar, J., affirmed the finding of the Employees Insurance Court and dismissed the appeals. Letters Patent appeals from his orders were summarily dismissed by a Bench of the High Court. The company and employees have now preferred two separate appeals to this Court by special leave.

Court's reasoning:
7. In view of S. 2 (k) (iii), the process of transforming electrical energy from a high to a low potential and the process of transmitting the energy through supply lines are both manufacturing processes. In a part of the premises occupied by the company, the two processes are carried on with the aid of power by means of electrical gadgets and other devices. On the premises more than twenty persons were and are working. No part of the premises is used for purposes unconnected with the manufacturing processes. The premises therefore constitute a factory within the meaning of S. 2 (12) of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948We cannot accept this line of reasoning. It seems to us a startling proposition that every inch of the wide area over which the transmission lines are spread is a factory within, the meaning of S. 2 (I2) "A factory must occupy a fixed site", see Halsburys Laws of England, 3rd ed., vol. 17, Art. 15, p. 15. The companys factory has a fixed site. It is located inside the Kamptee Road premises and its boundaries are fixed by the compound wall of the premises10. The definition of "employee" in S. 2 (9) clears with three classes of employees. We are concerned with the class of employees mentioned in S. 2 (9) (i). The courts below concurrently found, and in our opinion, rightly, that all the workers of the disputed categories are persons employed for wages in or in connection with Network of the companys factory and are directly employed by the company on work of or incidental to or connected with the work of the factory. Some of them do the work in the factory and some work elsewhere, but they are all employees within the meaning of S. 2 (9) (i). Take the case of the workers mentioned in appendix III. The assistant engineers, supervisors, electricians, and overseers are engaged in the erection and maintenance of the electricity supply lines connected with transmission of power. The cable jointer, mistries, linemen, coolies ad wireman are employed for inspection of the supply lines, digging pits, erecting poles for laying distribution mains and service lines. The masons attend to the masonry work of the buildings. The attendants in-charge of the sub-stations look after the transformation and transmission of power. The motor drivers and cleaners are employed for carrying materials and tower ladders in trucks for maintenance of the supply lines. The clerks, draughtsman and main office peons help the assistant engineers. The store keepers and clerks with the assistance of coolies issue stores to all the departments and keep accounts relating to stockThe deputy meter superintendent, meter mechanics and meter testers mentioned in items 1 to 4 of appendix IV attend to the testing calibration and repairs of the meters. Let us now take the case of the staff mentioned in items 2 to 6 and 9 to 11 of appendix V. The clerks in the accounts, time-keeping and filing departments are employed to maintain accounts, attendance registers, muster rolls, pay-sheets, typing, filing and dispatching documents required in connection with all the departments including the receiving station and the workshop. The telephone operators attend to the telephone calls for all the departments. The menial staff is required to do miscellaneous work including the cleaning of the office compound. The motor car staff is employed to look after the cares employed in the administration section. All these employees, clerical or otherwise, are employed in connection with the work of the factory, that is to say, in connection with the work of transforming and transmitting electrical power. Some of the employess are clerks; they are not engaged in manual labour. But a person doing non manual work can be an employee within the meaning of S. 2 (9) (I) if he is employed in connection with work of the factory. The duties of the administrative staff are directly connected with the work of the factoryThe facts of the present case are entirely different. The company maintains one establishment for its factory. The factory does the work of transforming and transmitting electrical energy. All the workers in question including the clerks and the administrative staff are engaged in connection with this work. None of them is employed in any separate establishment unconnected with the work of the factory11. Some of the employees work outside the factory, but their duties are connected with the work of the factory. They are therefore employees within the meaning of S. 2 (9) (I). Some are employed in the sub-stations. It is common case that the sub-stations are not independent factories. The sub-stations attendants attend to work which is directly connected with the work of the factory at the main station. They are therefore employees within the meaning of S. 2 (9) (I).