Palekar, J. - (1.) This appeal by certificate granted by the High Court of Mysore raises an interesting point as to whether quarrying of Shahabad stone is an activity which could be properly described as "stone breaking or stone crushing" mentioned in the Schedule to the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
(2.) By notification issued by the Appropriate Government under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 minimum wages were fixed for those employed in stone breaking or stone crushing in Gulbarga District. The appellant Inspector was of the view that respondent no. 1 Chittapore Stone Quarrying Company (Pvt)_. Ltd., Chittapur which was quarrying a variety of stone called Shahabad Stone in Chittapur. District Gulbarga, was engaged in the activity of stone breaking and stone crushing, and since respondent no. 1 was in breach of some of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the Rules made thereunder he adopted proceedings to enforce the provisions in the court of the Munsif Magistrate, Chittapur, respondent No. 3. Respondent no. 1 there upon filed a writ petition for quashing the proceedings (Writ Petition No. 1860 of 1965) in the Mysore High Court alleging, inter alia, that the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act did not which it was engaged because, in its submission, the activity was not one of stone breaking or stone crushing but of mining limestone slabs. The High Court held that the process of removing Shahabad stone involved breaking and crushing but it was also of the view that what was broken or crushed was not really 'stone' but a substance which very nearly approximated to a mineral. In that view it quashed the proceedings before the Munsif Magistrate.
(3.) The activity in which respondent no. 1 is engaged is described as follows: "The earth which varies in depth from place to place over the limestone layers is removed by manual labour. This work of removing the soil is known as earth work. The thin limestone layers from which the flooring stones are cut into regular sizes and which is the main object of mining, by us are reached after removing some thick layers of limestone over these thin layers. The removal of the over burden of earth and thick layers of limestone is incidental to the mining operations conducted by us. The main operation of our mining is to bare open the thin layers of limestone and cut them into regular sizes. It is submitted that no stone breaking or stone crushing operations are carried on in our mines." The question is whether the operation described above can be appropriately described as stone breaking or stone crushing.;