FALCON TYRES LTD. Vs. ASSISTANT LABOUR COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner-company is engaged in manufacture of tyres employing around 1200 permanent employees and about 300 badli workmen. The badli employees are engaged when the permanent employees are either on leave or absent. They will be paid the minimum of pay scale of the permanent employees with allowances. The badli workmen are not entitled for other benefits to which a permanent workman is entitled to under various labour laws and settlement. The badli workman has no statutory right to the post and his engagement on any day depends on leave or absence of the permanent employees. Hence, engagement of badli workman on a particular day is also not definite and not assured. The petitioner-company has got its certified Standing Orders and a copy of the same is produced at Annexure-A. Clause 3(vi) of the certified Standing Order defines badli workman. The respondent Nos. 2 to 7 are badli workmen in the petitioner-company.

(2.) The grounds urged by the petitioner-company is that at the relevant point of time, the respondent Nos. 2 to 7 were not in job and they were not eligible for any subsistence allowance. Including respondent Nos. 2 to 7 all the badli workers were issued notice insisting them to resume their duty on or before 10.11.2010/12.11.2010. These respondents have not chosen to report for duty and others have restored and resumed to duty by placing the unconditional apology and Annexures -C1 and C2 are such undertakings. Since the respondent Nos. 2 to 7 were not kept under suspension, they are not paid any subsistence allowance. Further learned counsel submitted that since the respondent Nos. 2 to 7 are badli workers, they do not get the status of a statutory nature as of other permanent employees. They will be working, in the place of permanent employees. Under these circumstances, they do not get any status or character of permanent employees and they could be denied of their job at any point of time.

(3.) In support of his submission learned counsel for the petitioner-company relied on paragraph No. 6 of the decision rendered by the Hon'ble High Court of Bombay reported in W.P. Nos. 294, 265 and 330/1995 dated 01.02.2002 in the case of Transport Manager and Another v. Vilas Sanu Deokar and Others 2003-I-LLJ-59 and submitted that "Badli worker is required to present himself for work and it is only if work is available that the employer would first have to consider allotting work to those persons whose names figure in the badli register. The Badli workers can be made permanent workers if they have completed the required number of days in service as stipulated under the certified Standing Orders and on the basis of the seniority-cum-merit.