NATIONAL FEDERATION OF RAILWAY PORTERS, VENDORS AND BEARERSversusUNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

      NATIONAL FEDERATION OF RAILWAY PORTERS,                              A
                VENDORS AN\:> BEARERS
                                   v.
                    UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

                             MAY 9, 1995
                                                                           B
        [K. RAMASWAMY AND N. VENKATACHALA, JJ.]

     Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970:

      Contract labour-Railway Parcel Porters-Working on contract           C
basis-Supreme Court directions regarding absorption and grant of salary
equivalent to regularly appointed railway parcel porters.

      In a writ petition decided on April 15, 1991 this Court gave directions
to the Railways Administration that 166 Railway Parcel Porters working
on contract basis in certain railway stations of the Indian Railways shall D
be absorbed on permanent basis and that they shall be granted same
salary as was being paid to regular parcel porters. The petitioners in this
writ petition, working as Railway Parcel Porters on contract basis in
Northern, North-Eastern and Eastern Railway, seek similar relief as
granted by this Court in its order dated April 15, 1991. Pursuant to an E
order of this Court, Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central) conducted
an enquiry and in its report dated August 31, 1993 stated, inter alia, that
(i) the petitioner have been working as contract labour railway parcel
porters continuously for a number of years; and (ii) the work of parcel
handling was permanent and perennial in its nature and it could keep all F
the petitioners continuously engaged.

     Disposing the petition, this Court gave following directions to the
Union of India and the Railway Administration :

      1. The Unit of the Railway Administration having control over the G
Railway Stations where the petitioners are doing the work of Railway
Parcel Porters on contract labour should absorb permanently as regular
Railway Parcel Porters of those station, the number to be so appointed
being limited to the quantum of work which may become available to them
on a perennial basis. [170-GI                                           H
                                   165
    166                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.

A         2. Persons appointed as Railway Parcel Porters on permanent basis
    shall be entitled to get from the dates of their absorption the minimum
    scale of pay or wages and other service benefits which the regularly
    appointed Railway Parcel Porters are already getting. (171-A]

          3. The Units of Railway Administration may absorb on permanent
B   basis only such of those Railway Parcel Porters working in the concerned
    Railway Stations on contract labour who have not completed the superan-
    nuation age of 58 years and those who are found medically fit for such
    employment. [171-B]

C         4: The absorption of the petitioners does not disable the Railway
    Administration from utilising their services for any other manna! work of
    the Railway depending upon its needs. (171-D]

          5. While making absorption the persons who have worked for longer
D   periods as contract labour shall be preferred to those who are put in
    shorter period of work. [171-E]

         6. The report dated August 31, 1993 of the Assistant Labour Com-
    missioner (Central) can be made the basis for deciding the period of
    contract labour work done by the petitioners in the Railway Stations.
E   Further, as far as possible, the Railway Stations where the petitioners are
    working should be places where they could be absorbed. (171-F]

          7. The absorption and regularisation of the petitioners shall be done
    according to the terms indicated above and on such other terms to which
F   they may be subjected to according to the rules or circulars of the Railway
    Board as expeditiously as possible, not being later than six months from
    the date of this order. [171-H, 172-A]

         R.K Pande and Ors v. State Authority of India and Ors., JT(1994) 4
    SC 151, relied on.
G
         CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (C) No. 507 of
    1992 Etc.

          (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.)

H         G.B. Pai, N.N. Goswami, D.K. Garg, Yashpal Dhingra, S.S. Khanduja
         FEDRATION OF RLY. PORTERS v. U.O.l. [VENKATACHALA, J.]             167

'
.,
     B.K Satija, VK. Verma, Arvind Kr. Sharma and Ms. Bina Tamta for the A
     Appearing parties.

           Respondent In-person.

          The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
                                                                                  B
            VENKATACHALA, J. In a writ petition, W.P. No. 277 of 1988, filed
     in this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of. India 166 Railway
     Parcel Porters, working on contract labour in certain Railway Stations of
     Indian Railways had claimed for therein issuance directions to the Union
     of India and its Railway Administration for their permanent absorption by C
     Indian Railways as Railway Parcel Porters on a regular basis. When the
     claim in that writ petition was contested by the Union of Indian Railway
     Administration and societies of Railways Employees, this Court by its
     Order dated October 4, 1989 directed the Labour Commissioner. Uttar
     Pradesh to enquire as to whether the writ petitioner were contract labour D
     working in Railway Stations for several years as claimed by them and
     submit his report. Pursuant thereto, the Labour Commissioner, Uttar
     Pradesh, who held an elaborate enquiry after affording opportunity to the
     contesting parties in the writ petition to have their say, submitted his report
     dated October 17, 1990 to this Court. This Court, which examined the E
     findings recorded in the said Report of the Labour Commissioner which
     reference to the arguments of learned counsel for parties, decided the writ
     petition by its order dated April 15, 1991, the material portion of which
     read:

                  "In this Report, the Labour Commissioner has recorded find- F
             ings that there was no evidence that the petitioners were the
             employees of the Society instead the petitioners were contract
             labourers provided by the Society under the agreement by the
             Northern Railway. The Labour Commissioner has held that the
             petitioners have been working as Parcel Porters with effect from G .
             the date they claimed to be working with the Northern Railway. A
             list showing the names and addresses of the each of the petitioners
             is annexed to the finding which shows the date from which the
             petitioners have been working as parcel porters. On a perusal of
             the list, we find that most of the petitioners have been working H
    168                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.

A           since 1972 and some of them since 1980 and a few of them were
            employed in 1985. In this view all the petitioners have completed
                                                                                   '
            more than 240 days of continued service.

                In view of the Labour Commissioner's finding, we allow the
B           petition and direct the respondent, Railway Administration to treat
            the petitioners are regular Parcel Porters w.e.f. 15.4.1991 and to
            grant them the same salary which is being paid to regular Parcel
            Porters. There will be no order as to costs."

C          In the present writ petitions the prayers of the petitioners, who are
    working as Railways Parcel Porters in Railway Stations of Northern Rail-
    way, North Eastern Railway and Eastern Railway on contract labour is,
    that their writ petitions also should be disposed of in terms of the order
    dated 15th April, 1991 made by this Court in the aforesaid writ petition
    filed by Railway Parcel Porters who were in no way different from them.
D
           Taking into consideration the nature of prayer in the present writ
    petitions, this Court made an order therein on November 30, 1992, which
    read thus :

E               "We have heard learned counsel on either side and also the
            respondent No. 7 in person. On the facts and circumstances in this
            case, we are of the view that it is appropriate that the Assistant
            Commissioner (Labour), Central Govt. at Lucknow would conduct
            an enquiry into the allegations whether the petitions who are
F           porters ? working continuously and whether the work is a peren-
            nial source and the requirements of Section 10 of the Contract
            Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act, 1972 have been satisfied.
            The Assistant Labour Commissioner is directed to issue notice to
            the respondents and Mis. Purshottam and Shivapujan Yadav, the
G           petitioners in this case, after giving reasonable opportunity to
            adduce evidence in proof of other respective case, consider the
            evidence placed by the parties and to submit a report in this behalf
            within six months from the date of the receipt of this order. The
            enquiry would be confined to the parcel porters only. List the
H           matter after the receipt of the report."
         FEDRATION OFRLY PORTERS v. U.O.l. [VENKATACHALA,J.]                 169

          Pursuant to the above order of this Court and another similar Order A
    dated April 26, 1993 made by this Court, a detailed enquiry being held by


-   the Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central), Ministry of Labour,
    Government of India, after affording to all the parties concerned oppor-
    tunity of participation in it, a report dated August 31, 1993 is submitted by
    him with the following findings :                                             B

            (i)   Writ petitione'5 have been working as contract labour Rail-
                  way Parcel Porters continuously for a number of years.

            (ii) The work of parcel handling is permanent and perennial in
                 its nature and in could keep at the petitioners - parcel porters   C
                 continuously engaged.

            (iii) In certain Railway Stations the Parcel handling work is done
                  by Railway Parcel Porters, regularly and permanently
                  employed by Railways.
                                                                                    D
            (iv) Contract labour for parcel handling is done by labour sup-
                 plied to Railway through societies or private contractors.

           We have carefully examined the above report of the Assistant Labour
    Commissioner and his findings recorded therein. The facts disclosed in the      E
    report and the findings recorded therein stand unrebutted. Though we
    have heard at length the learned counsel appearing for the respondents in
    the present writ petitions including the representative of the societies
    supplying contract labour to Railways, they were not sale to point out to
    cs any valid reason why the present writ petitions should be allowed in         F
    terms of the Order dated April 15, 1991 made by this Court in similar Writ
    Petition No. 277 of 1988, already adverted to by us, particularly when in
    the matter of absorption of contract labour by a public undertaking on a
    permanent basis, an order is made by a three-Judge Bench of this Court
    in R.K Pande and Other v. State Authority of India and Others, JT (1994)
    4 SC 151 in the following terms :                                               G

               "All the labourers who have been initially engaged through
            contractors but have been continuously working with the respon-
            dent for the last 10 years on different jobs assigned to them inspite
            of the replacement/change of the contractors, shall be absorbed H
    170                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995] SUPP. l S.C.R.

A           by the respondent as their regular employees subject to being
            found medically fit and if they are below 58 years of age, which is
            the age of superannuation under the Respondent."

           However, when in the course of the arguments addressed before us
B   in the present writ petitions we questioned the learned counsel for the
    petitioners whether the petitioners in the writ petitions would be satisfied
    by regularisation a few of them only if the Railway Administration con-
    cerned is not able to absorb all of them on regular basis having regard to
    the insufficiency of parcel handling work in a Railway Station concerned,
    the learned counsel for the writ petitioners, told us in categorical and
C   unequivocal terms that the petitioners are ready and willing for absorption
    only a few of them as Railway Parcel Porters on a permanent basis at the
    cost of others loosing their employment, whenever the Railway Administra-
    tion comes to the conclusion that all the Railway Parcel Porters working
    in the particular Railway Station on contract basis will not have sufficient
D   work for employing them on a permanent basis and the decision of the
    Railway Administration made in that behalf will not be questioned. The
    claim of the writ petitioners for absorption as Railway Parcel Porters on a
    Permanent basis by the concerned railway administration, being con-
    sidered as above and regard being given to the fact that the railway
E   Administration concerned has in most of the Railway Stations of the
    country employed Railway Parcel Porters on regular and permanent
    basis, and Railway Stations left out without such porters are hardly a few,
    we have thought it most just and appropriate to issue the following direc-
    tions to the respondent - Union of India and its Railway Administration.
F   Units:

            (1) That the Unit of the Railway Administration having control
                over the Railway Stations where the petitioners in the present
                writ petitions are doing the work of Railway Parcel Porters
                on contract labour should be absorbed permanently as
G               regular Railway Parcel porters of those Stations, the number
                to be so appointed being limited to the quantum of work
                which may become available to them on a personal basis.

             (2) When the petitioners in the writ petitions or any of them are
H                appointed as Railway Parcel Porters on Permanent basis, they
FEDRATION OF RLY PORTERSv. U.0.1. [VENKATACHALA,J.]             171

       shall be entitled to get from the dates of their absorption the A
       minimum scale of pay or wages and other service benefits
       which the regularly appointed Railway Parcel Porters are
       already getting.

  3.   The Units of Railway Administration may absorb on per-
       manent basis only such of those Railway Parcel Porters
                                                                      B
       (petitioners) working in the concerned Railway Stations on
       contract labour who have not completed the superannuation
       age of 58 years.

  4.   The Units of Railway Administration are not required to        c
       absorb on permanent basis such of the contract labour Rail-
       way Parcel Porters (Petitioners) who are not found medically
       fit for such employment.

  5.   That the absorption of the petitioners in the writ petitions or
                                                                       D
       a regular and permanent basis by the Railway Administration
       as Railway Parcel Porters docs not disable the Railway Ad-
       ministration from utilising their services for any other manual
       work of the Railway depending upon its needs.

  6.   In the matter of absorption of Railway Parcel Porters on E
       contract labour as permanent and regular Railway Parcel
       Porters, the persons who have worked for longer periods as
       contract labour shall be preferred to those are put in shorter
       period of work.
                                                                      F
  7.   The report dated August 31, 1993 of the Assistant Labour
       Commissioner (Central) can be made the basis in deciding
       period of contract labour work done by them in the Railway
       stations. Further, as far as possible, the Railway Stations
       where the writ petitioners are working should be the places
       where they could be absorbed on permanent and regular basis G
       and the information available in this regard in the report
       dated August 31, 1993 of the Assistant Labour Commissioner,
       could be utilised for the purpose.                          •

  8.   The absorption and regularisation of the petitioners in the H
    172                  SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1995] SUPP. 1 S.C.R.

A                writ petitions, who could be appointed as permanent Railway
                 Parcel Porters shall be done according to the terms indicated
                 above and on such other terms lo which they may be subjected
                 to according to the rules or circulars of the railway Board as
                 expeditiously as possible, not being later than six months from
                 today, those who have put in longer periods of work as
B
                 Railway Parcel Porters on contract labour getting preference
                 in the matter of earlier appointment.

          All the writ petitions are, therefore, allowed by issue of the above
    directions to the respondents. No costs.
c T.N.A.                                                   Petition disposed of.




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