- (1.) The appellant is a limited Company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1879. It is carrying on business in the manufacture of textiles , and owns three factories called Spring Mills, Textile Mills and Bombay Dye Works, all of which are situate in Bombay. In its balance sheet for the year 1951, it has shown as one of its liabilities a sum of Rs. 1,65,731-1-0 under the heading "Unclaimed wages". This amount is made up of wages earned by the workmen in the factories but remaining undrawn by them, and represents accumulations from year to year ever since the formation of the Company which, it is stated, was about the year 1880. The dispute in this appeal mainly relates to this amount.
(2.) In 1953, the Legislature of the State of Bombay enacted the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act (Bom 40 of 1953) (hereinafter referred to as the Act), and it came into force on June 4, 1953. We may, at this stage, refer to the relevant provisions of the Act, as it is their validity that is the main point for our determination in this appeal. The preamble to the Act recites that "it is expedient to constitute a Fund for the financing of activities to promote welfare of labour in the State of Bombay and for conducting such activities". Section 2 is the definition section: sub-s. (2) defines an "employee" as meaning "any person who is employed for hire or reward to do any work, skilled or unskilled, manual or clerical, in an establishment". "Employer" is defined in sub-s. (3) as meaning "any person who employs either directly or through another person either on behalf of himself or any other person, one or more employees in an establishment and includes - in a factory and person named under S. 7 (i) (f) of the Factories Act. 1948,. As the manager". Sub-section (10) defines "Unpaid accumulations " as meaning "all payments due to the employees but not made to them within a period of three years from the date on which they became due whether before or after the commencement of this Act including the wages and gratuity legally payable." "Wages" is defined in sub-s. (11) as meaning "all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money which would, if the terms of the contract of employment, express or implied were fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment.....".
(3.) Then, there is S. 3, which runs as follows: (1) "There shall be constituted a fund called the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund and, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, the sums specified in sub-s. (2) shall be paid into the Fund. (2) The Fund shall consist of - (a) all fines realised from the employees; (b) all unpaid accumulations; (c) any voluntary donations; (d) any fund transferred under sub-s. (5) of S. 7; and (e) any sum borrowed under S. 8. (3) The sums specified in sub-s. (2) shall be collected by such agencies and in such manner and the accounts of the Fund shall be maintained and audited in such manner as may be prescribed." Section 7 (1) provides that "the Fund shall vest in and be held and applied by the Board as Trustees subject to the provisions and for the purposes of this Act." Sub-section (2) of S. 7 is very material, and is as follows: "Without prejudice to the generality of sub-s. (1) the moneys in the Fund may be utilized by the Board to defray expenditure on the following: (a) community and social education centers including reading rooms and libraries; (b) community necessities; (c) games and sports; (d) excursions, tours and holiday homes; (e) entertainment and other forms of recreations; (f) home industries and subsidiary occupations for women and unemployed persons; (g) corporate activities of a social nature; (h) cost of administering the Act including the salaries and allowances of the staff appointed, for the purposes of the Act; and (i) such other objects as would in the opinion of the State Government improve the standard of living and ameliorate the social conditions of labour: Provided that the Fund shall not be utilized in financing any measure which the employer is required under any law for the time being in force to carry out; Provided further that unpaid accumulations and fines shall be paid to the Board and be expended by it under this Act notwithstanding anything contained in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936), or any other law for the time being in force." Section 11 provides for the appointment of an officer called the Welfare Commissioner, and defines his powers and duties. Section 17 enacts that, "Any sum payable into the Fund under this Act, shall, without prejudice to any other mode of recovery, be recoverable on behalf of the Board as an arrear of land revenue." Section 19 authorises the State Government to make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act. Section 23 provides that, "In S. 8 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936), to sub-s. (8) the following shall be added, before the Explanation, namely: "but in the case of any factory or establishment to which the Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953 (Bom. 40 of 1953), applies all such realisations shall be paid into the Fund constituted under the said Act.";