M. Stfr;eraj Daniel Motta111111nt of ~l•le B•nk of /ndi• Dos Go;I• J, IMS entitled to Rs. 146/- plus dearness allowance as the benefit to ".Vhich he is entitle~ under the Sastry Award but which has not been paid .
The Labour Court was, therefore, wrong m rejecting the appellant's petition. We allow the appeal, set aside the order of the La~our <?ourt, Delhi, and compute the sum to which he is entitled under the Award at Rs. 141i/- plus dear-
neu allowance." No order as to costs. Appeal allowed. STATE BANK OF INDIA v. M. ~ELVARAJ DANIEL (P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, K. N. WANOHOO, and K. C. DAS GUPTA JJ.) Review Application-No error in d-ispo•ing appeal~Review
faik-Sa.try Award, Para 292-lndu•trial Di•putes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947), •· 33(e)(2). · The application for review arose out of a judgment pas- sed hy this Court in Civil Appeal No. 707 of 1962. The appeal arose out of an application filed by a workman of the State Bank under s.33(c)(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act before· the Labour Court. He was appointed as a clerk in the Bank on
December 14, 1953. He complained that· the Bank had not paid him the increment on the basis of the Sastry Award. His case was that he was entitled under the award to have his an· nual increment in .December each year. The case of the.Bank was that on the basis of the award the workman was entitled to get his annual increment in each year on April •I.
On theae facts it was held that the workman . would get the benefit of 3 S.C.R. the new scales of pay from the very day of his appointment i.t. from December 14, 1953. Thus the appeal of the workman wa1 allowed. Hence the review.
H•ld. that (i) this applic•tion failed a! thi! Court did not commit any error in disposing of the appeal" (ii) in .para 292 of the Sa•try Award special directions were given as regards the adj111twent into tne pay scale of the workmen who had
joinrd the mvice of the Bank aftet January, 1950, but in their case nothing was said as co the date from which future incrc· ments would take effect. The necessary and inevitable conse- quence of the absence of any such direction in the matter is that future increments would be on that date of the year when the workman was appointed. On the facts of this ca!e it was held that the appcllant·workman would get the increments
under the new scale on December 14, each year. CIVIL APPELLATB JURISDICTION: Review Petit· ion No. Re. C.A. No. 33 of 1963. Petition for Review of this Court's judgment dated April 22, 1963, in Civil Appeal No. 707 of
1962. C. K. Daphtary, Attorney-General for India, H.N. Sanyal, Solicitor-General of India, H.L. Anand, Das Gupta and V. Sagar, for the appellant. M.K. Ramamurthy, R.K. Garg, S. C. Agarwal
and D. P. Singh, for the respondent. 1963. December 19. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DAS GuPTAj.-This application for review of a judgment given by us on April 22 this year is
by the Bank, wpich was the respondent in the appeal. The appellant who had been appointed a clerk in the Bank on December 14, 1953, made an appli· cation under s. 33 (b)(2) of the Industrial Disputes
Act, before the Labour Court, Delhi. He complain- ed that in applying to _him the award of the Sastry Sl•I• Bak of ln,i• M, s.t..,~ D..W1I Stat• Bank of India v •. M. ')elvaraj Danitl
Das &upta J. Tribunal in the dispute between certain banks and their workmen as modified by the Labour Appellate Tribunal, the Bank had proceeded on the basis that under it the appellant was entitled to get his annual,
increment in each year on April 1. According to the appellant, he was entitled nnder the award to have his annual increment in December each year, Ac- cordingly, he prayed that the benefit of which he
was being deprived by the Bank should be computed and directed to be paid to him. At the hearing of the appeal it was contended before us on behalf of the appellant that on a proper interpreta-
tion of para. 292 of the Sastry Award which deals with the question of adjustment of clerks already in service into the scale of pay fixed by the award, he should get his increments on December 14, every
year. The Bank's contention was that increments had been rightly given from April 1. We did not however examine para. 292 as it appeared to us that when the appellant was first appointed by the
Bank on December 14, 1953 the appointment was on the scale of pay as fixed by the Sastry Award. There was, therefore, in our opinion, no question of adjustment. We held that on those terms of appo·.
intment he was entitled t() the pay as claimed by him in his application. In this view we set aside the order of the Labour Court, Delhi, which had rejec- ted the appellant's application and computed the
sum to which the appellant was entitled under the award at Rs. 146/- plus dearness allowance. In asking us to review this judgment it is sub- mitted by the learned Attorney-General who appea-
red for the Bank, that it was an error to think that Daniel's first appointment was on the pay scale as fixed by the Sastry Award. He pointed out that the Labour Appellate Tribunal which decided the ap-
peals from the award of the Sastry Tribunal gave a definite direction in para. 401 of its ju_dgment that the Appellate Tribunal's decision as to pa 3 S.C.R. scales, allowances and provident fund contributions
will start from April 1, 1954. This, according to the learned Attorney·General, supersedes the direc- tion by the Sastry Tribunal that the award will come into force on April 1, 1953. When it was pointed
out that the decision of the Appellate Tribunal was given long after the appellant's appointment and so it might well be that the clerk was appointed on the scale under the Sastry Award which had already
come into force on April 1, 1953, learned Counsel submitted that the operation of the award as to the pay scale had been stayed soon after the award was pronounced and long before December 14, 1953.
We find it stated however in para. 42 of the Labour Appellate Tribunal's decision that A and B Class Banks had not filed any appeals against the wage structure. The reason is not far to seek.
This award had been preceded by the award of the Sen Tribunal that was published on August 12, 1950. 1he Sen Award was declared void by the Supreme Court on April 9, 1951. The Sen Tribunal gave the
clerks for A and B Class Banks the following scales of pay:- Class A Banks Class I areas. Rs. 96-6-132-7-174-9- 190-~05-9-250-10- Class II areas. Rs. 82-5-112-6-148-7- 162-172- 8-212-9-248
Class III areas. Rs. 70-4-94-5-124-6- 136-145-7-180-8-212 Class B Banks Class I areas Rs. 92–6-128-7-170 – 8- 186-200–9-245-10-285 196J Sl•lt BN of ludia v. M. ~1lvaraj DtJni 1l
Das Gupta J. State Bank of India M. Selv,roj Dm,iel Das Gupta J. Class II areas Rs. 78-5-108-6-144-,-7- 158-167-8-207-9-243 Class III areas Rs. 66 – 4-90-5-120-6- 132-140~7-l 75-8-207
The award of the Sastry Tribunal in this matter was less favourable to the clerks. It gave the following scales:- Glass A Banks Area I Rs. 85-5-100-6-112-7-140-8- 164-9-245-10-265-15-280
Area II Rs. 73-4-85.-5-100-6-112-7- 140- 8-164-9-245 Area III Rs. 66–3-69-4-85-5-100-6- 112-7-140-8-164-9-227 Glass B Banks Area I Rs. 73-4-85-100-6-II2-7- l40-8-164-9-245 Area II Rs. 66-3-69-4-85-I00-6-II2-
7-140-8-164-9-227 Area III Rs. 57-3-69-4-85-5-100-6- 112-7-140-8-164-9-200 It was in these circumstances that the A and B Class Banks were content to accept the award of the Sastry Tribunal as regards the wage structure and did
not appeal; though the workmen being dissatisfied with the wage scale as awarded by the Sastry Tribunal appealed against it. It does not seem to us unreasonable to think that having accepted the Sastry
Award on wage structure the Bank-an A Class Bank – would make its appointments after April 1, 1953 3 S.C.R. on those scales of pay. It has to be mentioned that the appointment letter is not on the record.
We are therefore still inclined to think that the appellant Daniel was appointed by the Bank on December 14, 1953 on the pay scale as fixed by the Sastry Tribunal. In any case, the Bank has not been
able to satisfy us that any error was made in dispos· ing of the appeal on the basis that Daniel's appoint· ment wa~ on the pay scale a8 fixed by the Sastry Award. This is sufficient to dispose of the review
application. As, however, arguments were addressed to us in this application as to what the position would be if the appellant had not been appointed on the pay scale as fixed by the Sastry Award and his pay had to
be adjusted in accordance with the provisions of para. 292, we propose to give our decision on that point as well. The question of adjustment to the new pay 'scales formed a distiuct item -Item No. 12-in the
Governm,,nt Order making the reference to the Sastry Tribunal. This was dealt with in Chapter XIII of the award in four sections. Section I sets out the different contentions raised by the employer and the
workmen's Counsel. Thus, after mentioning that the employees generally asked for point to point adjust· ment, i.e., placing of each employee at that stage in the new scale to which he would have risen by reason
of the length of his service if he had entered service on the new scale, the Tribunal stated that for the reasons given in paras. 113 to 117 of the Sen Award it agreed with the conclusion of the Sen Tribunal
that a compromise between the two methods advocated by the parties should be adopted. After a general discussion of the arguments in paras. 285 to 291, the Tribunal proceeded to give concrete direc-
tions in para. 292 dealing with the matter in six Stal1 B~nk of lndi::J Af. S1lunaj Daniel Stat1 Bnnk of India M. Sellxuaj Doniel Das Gupta J, sub-paragraphs, as regards workmen who entered the
service of the Bank before January 31, 1950; one sub. para. was as regards workmen who joined service of the bank after January 31, 1950; seven more sub- paras.-sub-paras. 8 to 14 laid down general. rules
applicable to all workmen whether appointed before or after January 31, 1950. This scheme of adjustment was maintained by the Appellate Tribunal with the modification that '31st January 1953' in the Award was substituted by
·~Ist January 1954' and 'lst April, 1953' was substi- tuted by the words 'lst April, 1954'. Clause (d) of sub para. 4 was deleted and in its place sub-para 4 (A) was substituted which ran thus:-
" After adjustments are made in accordance with the directions given, three further annual increments in the new scale will be added thereto for service for the three years 1951 to
1953. In addition, the workmen will be entitled to draw his normal increment for 1954 on the 1st of April 1954. Thereafter, each suc- ceeding year's annual increment shall take effect
as and from the lst April of that year." For workmen appointed before January 31, 19Fi0 there was thus a defir,ite direction that succee- ding year's annual increment shall take effect from
April l, of that year. Sub-paragraph 7 dealing with the workmen who joined service after January 31, 1950 runs thus:- "The workmtn shall be fitted into the new scale of pay on a point to point basis as though it
had been in force since he joined the service of the Bank, provided that his adjusted basic pay is not less than what it would be under a point to point adjustment on the corresponding ''pre-
Sen" scale." 3 S.C.R. It is important to notice that in this provision as regards the workmen who joined service of the Bank after January :n, 1950, rio direction has been given as regards the date from which annual incre-
ments should take effect. Nor can we find anything in the remaining seven sub·paras. laying down generally the rules, any directions whatsoever to justify the plea that the future increments of work-
men who joined service of the Bank after January 31, 1950, would start from April l, of the year. '1 he provision in para 12 that the adjusted pay shall have effect from April l, 1954 has nothing to do
with the commencement of future increments. The reason why such a direction was given as regards the workmen who entered the service of the Bank before January 31, and none was given as
regards workmen who joined after that date appears to be clear. For workmen who entered the service of the Bank before January . 31, 1950 detailed provisions for fitting them into the scales were made
including the provisions for increments. It was in view of this apparently that it was thought necessary to indicate the time from which further increments would commence. As the Tribunal brought the
new scales into force with effect from 1953 the direction that logically followed was that each succeeding year's annual increment would take effect as and from April _ l, of that year.
The Appellate Tribunal decided to adjust the pay up to April I, 1954 instead ·Of April l, 1953. But that did not change the fogical position that each succeeding year's increment wou Id take effect as and from
April l of that year. The above considerations had no application to the ·workmen who were directed to be fitted into the new scale of pay on a point to point basis as though it had been in force since they joined the
service of the Bank. On the basis that the new scale was in force at the date when the workmen State Banlc of India y, M. S~lvt'aj Danid D1ir GuPt• J, 196S Slate Bank of lndi• v. M. Sdaaraj Danl1l
Das Gopt• J. joined the service of the Bank there can be no e!lcape from the conclusion that the increments as provided in that scale would take effect from the anniver- sary of the date of appointment.
It is unnecessary for us to consider here why the workmen who joined the service of the Bank . after January 31, 1950, were not being given incre- ments in the same way as those who had entered the ·
service before that date. Some indication is given in the Tribunal's observations that it would be pro- per to let bygones be bygones and there should be neither retrospective adjustment of pay or aHowances
actually paid nor further claims for more than what has been given already. Whatever the reason be the fact remains that special directions were given as regards the adjustment into the pay scale of the
workmen who had joined the service of the Bank after January, 1950, and in their case nothing was said as to the date · from which future increments would take effect. The necessary and inevitable
consequence of the absence of any such direction in the matter is, as we have already indicated, that · futu·re increments would be on that date of the year when the workman was appointed.
We have thus reached the conclusion that even on application of the rules of adjustment into the new scale on the. assumption that such adjustmenf was necessary, the appellant-workman would be
entitled to the relief he had asked for. The application is accordingly dismissed with . costs. …__ lleview applicatioo dismiBBM.