SHRIRAM BEARINGS LTD Vs. EMPLOYEES STATE INSURANCE CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in this writ application is a public limited company which carries its business at ranchi. It is a factory within the meaning of the term as defined in the Employees' State insurance Act, 1948 (Act 34 of 1948), (hereinafter to be referred to as the Insurance Act ). Being a factory several persons are employed as employees thereof. In this writ application a prayer has been made for quashing the two communications, dated 29 February 1972, addressed by the Regional Director of the employees' State Insurance Corporation, patna, a Corporation 'constituted under the insurance Act (hereinafter to be referred to as the Corporation) to the Collector, Patna. In the aforesaid two communications, the regional Director of the said Corporation has stated that amounts of Rs 13,197 and rs. 10,216. 5i which were liable to be paid by the petitioner-company as the employer's special contribution and employees' contribution, respectively, under the provisions of the insurance Act have not been deposited. As the aforesaid amounts have not been deposited on behalf of the petitioner-company, they should be recovered as appellant of land revenue under the provisions of this insurance Act read with S. 5 of the Revenue recovery Act, 1890 (hereinafter to be referred to as the Revenue Act ). Copies of the aforesaid two communications have been annexed to the writ application and marked at annexures 2 and 3, respectively.

(2.) ACCORDING to the petitioner, it is not liable to pay any such contribution under the provisions of the Insurance Act and the demand for realization of the same is per searbitrary and without any authority in law. According to the case of the petitioner, in order to raise the production, the management introduced job incentive scheme on 16 March 1965. Under that scheme the bonus was to be given to different groups of workmen as an incentive for higher production. A copy of the said scheme is annexure 1 to the writ application. This incentive bonus was to be paid to different groups of workmen over and above what they were entitled as wages, but at no stage the amount paid under this scheme to the workmen formed part of their wages so as to attract the provisions of the Insurance act.

(3.) IT is not in dispute that the question of contribution in respect of such payments will arise only if such payments are held to be part of wages. "wages" has been defined under s. 2 (22) of the Insurance Act as follows :