- (1.) THESE are there appeals from decisions in writ application, two of them are from the decision of sabyasachi Mukharji, J. , preferred by the petitioner and the respondent respectively and the other appeal is from the decision of a. K. Janah, J. , preferred by the party who was the respondent in the relevant writ application.
(2.) THE case of Brooke Bond is that it has gix factories in India at the following places : (1) 3, Hyde Road, Calcutta. (2) Tundla in Uttar Pradesh. (3) Kanhan near Nagpur in Maharashtra. (4) Jamnagar in Gujarat. (5) Ghatkeswar near Hyderabad in andhra Pradesh. (6) Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The first three factories are exclusively engaged in the manufacturing process of tea whereas the last three factories are exclusively engaged in the manufacturing process of tea and coffee. The company manufactures in its factories at Jamnagar, Ghatkeswar and coimbatore pure coffee as well as coffee chicory mixture. For this purpose, chicory is blended with coffee and sold as coffee blended with chicory. The company does not deal in chicory as a separate item. It is alleged that all the said factories are seasonal factories within the meaning of s. 2 (12) of the Employees' State Insurance act, 1948, and as such, they are not covered by the Act. The head office of the company is located at 9, Shakespeare Sarani, Calcutta, and its thirty-three branch offices and six accounts offices are spread all over the country. These branch offices and accounts offices are entirely independent of the said factories. The sales staff employed in the branch offices have nothing to do with the purchase of raw materials, blending and packing of tea, nor are they in any way connected with the administration of any of the factories. The Employees' State Insurance Corporation accepted the position that the factories of the company were seasonal factories and were beyond the purview of the Act until the amendment of S. 2 (12), by the amending Act, namely, Act 44 of 1966, which came into force on 28 January 1968. By a letter, dated 23 May 1970, the Insurance Commissioner, employees' State Insurance Corporation, claimed that all the six factories of the company were covered by the Act as amended by the amending Act, namely, Act 44 of 1966, and directed the company to comply with the provisions of the Act. It appears that a correspondence followed between the company and the authorities of the Employees' state Insurance Corporation. In spite of the representation of the company that its factories were seasonal factories and were as such beyond the purview of the Act, the Regional director of the Employees' State Insurance corporation maintained that the factories of the company were not seasonal factories, and by his letter, dated 3 June 1970, directed the company to comply with the various provisions of the Act. The company, being aggrieved by the actions of the authorities of the Employees' State Insurance Corporation in attempting to apply the provisions of the Act to the factories of the company, moved a writ petition and obtained a rule nisi being Civil rule No. 5832 (W)of 1970. An affidavit- in -opposition was filed on behalf of the authorities of the Employees' State Insurance corporation. In that affidavit it was stated, inter alia, that the factories of the company at 3, Hyde Road, Calcutta, was engaged in the process of blending and packing of tea and despatching of the packets of tea. It was further stated that there was a workshop in the said factory doing the work of repairing and maintenance of machinery used in the factory. In the other factories, the company was engaged in the manufacturing process of tea blending, packing or repacking and the last three factories were also engaged in the manufacturing process of coffee as well as coffee and chicory mixture. All the said factories were engaged for more than seven months in a year in the process of blending and packing of tea and blending and packing of coffee as also roasting and grinding of chicory for being blended with coffee.
(3.) THE Lipton (India), Ltd. , has a factory at 1, Transport Depot Road, Kidderpore, calcutta, where tea is blended and packed by the company. In this case also it is contended by the company that its said factory is a seasonal factory within the meaning of s. 2 (12) of the Act and, as such, it is not covered by the Act. As the authorities of the Employees' State Insurance corporation sought to apply the provisions of the Act to the said factory of the company, a writ petition was moved by the company. A rule nisi being Civil Rule No. 5601 (W) of 1970, was issued on the said writ petition. The rule was opposed by the authorities of the employees' State Insurance Corporation by an affidavit- in- opposition. It was pointed out in the said affidavit that the factory of the company at I, Transport Depot Road, calcutta, was normally engaged in the procees of blending and packing of tea. There was another factory of the company at 47, Hyde road, Calcutta, which was engaged in packing tea and also in manufacturing different machines used for manufacturing, blending and packing tea and in repairing those machines. The said factories, it was further contended, were also engaged in such work for more than seven months in a year and, accordingly, they were not seasonal factories. It was contended that the provisions of the Act applied to the said factories.;