Bhargava, J. - (1.) This appeal, by special leave, is directed against an Award of the Industrial Tribunal, Gujarat in an industrial dispute referred to it by the Government of Gujarat at the instance of the appellants who are 466 workmen of the Gujarat Electricity Board, Baroda (hereinafter referred to as "the Board") represented by the Saurashtra Vidyut Kamdar Sangh (hereinafter referred to as "the Sangh"). The dispute referred to related to two matters. One was the demand made in respect of rates of dearness allowance to be paid to the workmen. The second demand was that those of the workmen, to whom Contributory Provident Fund or Employees Provident Fund Scheme was applicable should be granted gratuity equal to 15 days wages for every year of service in addition to the provident fund benefits, while those workmen, who were entitled to pension according to the pensionary scheme in force, should have their pension calculated after adding 50 per cent of the dearness allowance to the basic pay.
(2.) The facts needed to explain the second demand may first be stated. The supply of electricity in the State of Saurashtra, prior to the year 1954, was being carried out departmentally by the Government of Saurashtra and the workmen employed in the power houses were consequently Government servants. On 1st July, 1954, a Saurashtra Electricity Board was constituted to run the power houses and the employees of the Electricity Department of the Government were sent to work with the Saurashtra Electricity Board on deputation. On 1st November, 1956, Saurashtra became a part of the Bombay State, whereafter the Saurashtra Electricity Board was dissolved with effect from 1st April 1957 and its assets, liabilities, and employees were taken over by the Bombay State Electricity Board. The employees, who were originally in the service of the Saurashtra State Government were entitled to the pensionary scheme of the Sauarashtra Government, while the Bombay State Electricity Board had a Provident Fund Scheme. The Saurashtra State Government servants, on being taken over by the Bombay State Electricity Board, were given the option of either continuing in their pensionary scheme, or of joining the Provident Fund Scheme of the Bombay State Electricity Board in which case the gratuity already accrued to them and the equivalent of pensionary benefits were credited to their accounts. Some of the employees opted for the Provident Fund Scheme, while others continued under the pensionary scheme. Thereafter, on 1st May, 1960, the State of Bombay was bifurcated and a separate State of Gujarat was constituted; and, with effect from the same date, the Board came into existence. The Board took over all the Electricity, power-houses and electricity schemes in the State of Gujarat from the Bombay State Electricity Board including the workmen who are the appellants in this appeal. The assets and liabilities of the Bombay State Electricity Board were divided between the Board, and the Maharashtra Electricity Board which was constituted for the State of Maharashtra which came into existence on bifurcation of the Bombay State. The Board continued both the Pensionary Scheme as well as the Provident Fund Scheme for the employees in the manner they were in force when the employees were working under the Board State Electricity Board. The employees, who were originally servants of the State Government, had ceased to be government servants with effect from 1st April, 1957 and later on 1st May, 1960, became the employees of the Board so that they were no longer entitled to the rights which the State Government might sub-sequently grant in respect of pension under the rules applicable to the government servants. The result was that even improvements granted in the pensionary scheme by the State Government to its employees did not enure to the benefit of the appellants. In these circumstances the Sangh put forward the claim that the pension of employees, who were governed by the pensionary scheme, should be calculated not on the basis of basic salary, but after adding 50 per cent of the dearness allowance to it. In respect of employees who were governed by the Provident Fund Scheme, a second benefit of gratuity was claimed.
(3.) The demand for dearness allowance was that it should be linked with the scale prescribed for the Ahmedabad Mill-owners' Association. The workmen demanded that employees, drawing up to Rs. 50 as basic pay, should be given dearness allowance at the scale applicable to Ahmedabad Mill owners' Association, those drawing between Rs. 50 to Rs. 100, D. A. at the scale plus Rs. 5, and those drawing above Rs. 100, dearness allowance at that scale plus Rs. 10. This demand was put forward before the Board originally on behalf of all the 9,208 employees of Class III and Class IV and some employees of Class I and Class II whose salary was below Rs. 300 per mensem, who were working either in the Gujarat Region or the Saurashtra Region. These employees were represented by seven different Unions, one of which was the Sangh who represented about 3,000 employees working in the Saurashtra region. The six Unions representing the employees working in the Gujarat region amicably settled these disputes with the Board by entering into agreements. The Board gave some increase in dearness allowance retrospectively with effect from 1st October, 1961, while the second demand relating to gratuity and calculation of pension after adding 50 per cent of the dearness allowance was given up. The Sangh declined to accept this settlement, whereupon the Board offered terms in accordance with the settlement to all the employees in the Saurashtra region individually. Out of the total of 3,042 in the Saurashtra region, 622 signed General Standing Order 56, under which the Board had made its offer to individual employees on the basis of the settlements arrived at before the reference to conciliation. 1152 signed before the date of the failure report by the Conciliation Officer; 2058 signed before the reference and 518 signed after the reference. Thus the dispute, after the reference, became confined to the remaining 466 employees who did not on individual basis, accept the offer made by the Board. The Tribunal considered this dispute relating to the dearness allowance raised by these employees through the Sangh as also the other demand relating to gratuity and calculation of pension, and, by the impugned Award, rejected these demands. Consequently, the workmen have come up in this appeal through the Sangh.;