D. A. Desai, J. - (1.) Vacillation on the part of a public sector undertaking has pushed this trivial dispute to the Apex Court adding to the anxiety and misery on the part of lowest grade workmen and wasteful expenditure on futile litigation.
(2.) Food Corporation of India ('Corporation' for short) was set up under an Act of Parliament being the Food Corporations Act, 1964 ('Act' for short) to provide, amongst other, for the establishment of Food Corporations for the purpose of trading in foodgrains and other foodstuffs and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto. For performance of the functions statutorily prescribed under S. 13 of the Act namely, to undertake the purchase, storage, movement, transport, distribution and sale of foodgrains; and other foodstuffs, the Corporation has to set up godowns / depots and other storage facilities and to engage labour for handling foodgrains at the godowns or in transit. The Corporation adopted different methods at different places for employing labour for handling foodgranis. One such depot has been set up by the Corporation at Siliguri in West Bengal State. Number of workmen designated as handling Mazdoor were employed at Siliguri Depot. At the relevant time, 464 workmen were attached to this depot. It appears initially a contractor was engaged by the Corporation for handling storage and transit of foodgrains at Siliguri Depot. Subsequently, by negotiations and settlements, the contract system was abolished and the workmen were directly paid the wages, presumably at piece rate for the service rendered by them by the Corporation. A further attempt was made to bring about a basic change in the system by reinducting the intermediary contractor. This attempt to change the status of the workmen from being workmen of the Corporation to becoming the labour employed by the contractor was resisted by Food Corporation of India Workers' Union-appellant herein - ('Union' for short) and it led to negotiations between the Corporation and the Union resulting in a settlement as evidenced by Union's letter dated Jan 18, 1973. Two terms of the settlement may be noticed here. They read as under: "i) the FCI management agrees to take a final decision by 1-4-73 on the demand of the Union for departmentalisation of the workers working in the Corporations' permanent owned large-size godowns, where work goes on all the year round in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and New Delhi. ii) and iii) ********** iv) In the meantime the Food Corporation of India management agrees to introduce the direct payment system to the workers working in their owned godowns as also in the hired godowns at the same stations at which this system is introduced for the owned godowns in the aforesaid States. ********** The payment to the workers will be made at the rates at which the contractors are being paid now." These terms of settlement have been set out in the afore-mentioned letter of the Union. The Managing Director in his reply dated Jan. 20, 1973 confirmed the decision taken as indicated in the letter under reply. It would thus appear that the negotiations ended in a settlement. The Corporation addressed communication No. A-50(38)/72-Labour dated April 28, 1973 to its various Regional Managers in the aforementioned five States pointing out therein that the procedure in respect of direct payment to labourers laid down in the communication shall be followed. The method adopted is that the bills for the piece rate wages payable to handling Mazdoors should be prepared by the Depot Staff, and the Sardar / Mondal would accept payment and sign bills on their behalf and distribute the wages to the handling labour. A copy of this letter was also sent to the Joint Secretary of the Union. By the letter dated Oct 29, 1973 of the District Manager of the Corporation at Siliguri addressed to the Joint Secretary of the Union, the Union was informed to advise the local representatives of the workmen 'to submit the wage bill in time in which paticulars of per head out turn by name' was required to be mentioned. The expression 'per head out turn' means the quantum of work rendered by each workman with his name so that his wage at piece rate can be calculated and paid to him. This system of payment was being implemented and was in vogue, till Jan. 27, 1975. On account of some other industrial dispute, the members of the Union who were workmen attached to Siliguri Depot went on strike on and from Jan. 28, 1975. This strike was called off on March 9, 1975. The usual management response followed and effective from March 10, 1975 the Corporation changed the method of payment superseding the direct payment system reintroducing contractor system and that too without giving any notice of change as contemplated by S. 9A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ('I.D. Act' for short). As a direct consequence of this change, the Corporation discontinued employment of 464 workmen attached to Siliguri Depot and brought in the intermediary contractor and treated the afore-mentioned workmen as the workmen employed by the contractor. The Union protested against this illegal action alleging that apart from being an unfair labour practice, the changeover was illegal and vindictive and malicious in character. According to the Union these 464 workmen were already accepted as the workmen of the Corporation and unless their services were legally terminated, they cannot be discontinued from service of the Corporation and some other master imposed upon them.
(3.) An industrial dispute in this behalf raised by the Union was referred by the Central Government to the Central Government Industrial Tribunal, Calcutta under S. 10 of the I.D. Act for adjudication. The reference was in the following terms: "Whether the discontinuance of employment of 464 workers of their Siliguri Depot with effect from 21-7-75 by the management of Food Corporation of India is lawful and justified If not, to what relief are the workers entitled -;