IMPORTANT POINT
Discrimination between two categories of staff of textile mills cannot be justified on the basis of applicability of the CDA pattern and IDA pattern to the respective categories of staff as the IDA pattern cannot be taken to debar any revision of pay scales.

Headnote:Labour Law-Sick Textile Undertakings (Nationalization) Act, 1974-Section 3(1), 5-Pay Scales-Textile mills came to be vested in Central Government by virtue of Section 3(1) of the Act-Central Government transferred all such mills to National Textile Corporation Ltd.-Claim of staff/sub-staff engaged by various textile mills under NTC for equal pay for equal work -Staff working in mills claiming pay equal to or in parity with pay scales prevailing for staff working in corporate offices of the mills-Office staff/sub-staff is on Central Dearness Allowance pattern (CDA) while staff/sub-staff working in mills is on variable Industrial Dearness Allowance pattern (IDA) governed by region : cum : industry awards-Disproportion between pay scales of staff working in corporate offices and staff working in mills-Whether claim of staff based on principle of equal pay for equal work is tenable-(No)-When work is not equal, question of equal pay does not arise-However, workers deserve some relief though not parity of pay scales.
       Held : So far as the claim of the staff based on the principle of equal pay for equal work is concerned, it is therefore, not tenable. When the work is not equal, the question of equal pay does not arise. But we cannot ignore the fact that the staff/sub staff working in the Mills has unfortunately received a step motherly treatment. They have not had a pay revision for years. The litigation has been pending for more than a decade. They have been told that the matter is subjudice. The Sathyam Committee noticed this sorry plight of the workers. The Committee gave some ad hoc relief to the workers. But that is not enough. The Sathyam Committee noticed disparity in the pay scales of the two categories of workers which was 159% in 1987 and had risen to 642% in the year 2000. This is highly unjust and unfair. So far as the staff working in the mills is concerned we are told that all the mills are incurring losses and that does not justify any increase in the pay package of the workers. But the staff working in the corporate offices of the Mills is also staff of the parent body. If the mill is incurring losses the impact has to be on everyone connected with the mill, in whatever capacity. You cannot have double standards. When you give revised pay scales to office staff is there no financial burden? In view of the fact that the nature of duties of the staff in the two categories has been found to be not at par, parity in pay scales may not be possible. Yet there can be no case for total denial of revision of pay to the staff/sub staff working in the mills. Discrimination between the two categories of staff cannot be justified on the basis of applicability of the CDA pattern and the IDA pattern to the respective categories of staff. The IDA pattern cannot be taken to debar any revision of pay scales. The Central Government has to act as a model employer and such specious pleas on its part are highly improper and unjustified. (Paras 8 to 10)
       We feel we are ill-equipped to work out the extent of relief which can be granted to the workers in the mills. Therefore, we direct the Central Government to take appropriate steps which if so required may include appointment of an expert to work out the extent of relief which ought to be granted to the workers in the mills. Some consideration may be had about the financial constraints, if any, but it cannot be to the extent of virtual denial of any benefit. Before taking a final decision in the matter, an opportunity of hearing be allowed to the management as well as to the workers to enable them to place their respective stands before the decision making authority. (Para 12)

JUDGMENT

Arun Kumar, J.-Various textile mills in the country came to be vested in the Central Government by virtue of the provisions under Section 3(1) of the Sick Textile Undertakings (Nationalization) Act, 1974. The Central Government transferred all such mills to the National Textile Corporation Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as NTC ) which was brought into existence for this purpose. Under Section 5 of the said Act the liability towards wages, salaries and other dues of workers of such mills after the takeover of management by the Central Government, is that of the Central Government.

2. The issue involved in these cases is regarding the claim of the staff/sub staff engaged by the various textile mills under the NTC for equal pay for equal work . The staff working in the mills is claiming pay equal to or in parity with the pay scales prevailing for the staff working in the corporate offices of the mills. It is not in dispute that the office staff/sub staff is on the Central Dearness Allowance pattern (for short CDA) while the staff/sub staff working in the mills is on the variable Industrial Dearness Allowance pattern (for short IDA) governed by region: cum : Industry awards. It is to be noted that there has never been any parity in the pay scales between the staff working in the corporate offices of the NTC and its subsidiaries and the staff working in the mills. However, over the years the disparity between the pay scales of the staff working in the corporate offices and staff working in the mills has become highly disproportionate. It has been noticed by the Sathyam Committee, to which reference will be made in detail subsequently, that as against 159% increase in the emoluments of the staff working in the corporate offices over the staff working in the mills in the year 1987, the proportion has increased by the year 2000 to 642%. It is this disproportion between the pay scales of the staff working in the corporate offices and the staff working in the mills which has led to tremendous discontent amongst the staff working in the mills and it is this discontentment which is the root cause of this entire litigation. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that the NTC as well as most of its subsidiaries have been constantly incurring losses and majority of them are sick companies facing proceeding under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provision) Act, 1985 (in short SICA ).

3. In support of their plea of "equal pay for equal work" the staff working in the mills claimed that the nature of work performed by them is the same as the staff working in the corporate offices. They have gone to the extent of saying that there is interchangeability between the staff working at the two places. The subsidiaries of the NTC are spread over in different parts of the country. The staff working in some of the subsidiaries through their associations approached the respective High Courts in the country for relief regarding revision of pay scales raising the plea of "equal pay for equal work". Ultimately these cases stood transferred to this Court and were bunched together. The matter has been pending in this Court for quite some time. The effort of the Court has been to find an amicable settlement of the problem. In fact, by an order dated 29th September, 1989, by consent of all the counsel appearing for the parties, reference was made to the National Industrial Tribunal in a bid to resolve the controversy. The Tribunal deliberated on the issues involved over a long period of time. It ultimately submitted its report on 17th July, 1996. This report did not succeed in resolving the issues. The report found that the "workmen in the mills are getting lesser emoluments than those comparable categories of employees serving in the corporate offices. The workmen have succeeded in showing that there are some similarities in the work done by two sets of employees but they have failed to show satisfactorily that employees working in the mill

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2003 Supreme(SC) 1011

IMPORTANT POINT Discrimination between two categories of staff of textile mills cannot be justified on the basis of applicability of the CDA pattern and IDA pattern to the respective categories of staff as the IDA pattern cannot be taken to debar any revision of pay scales.

Cases Referred (1)

IMPORTANT POINT
Discrimination between two categories of staff of textile mills cannot be justified on the basis of applicability of the CDA pattern and IDA pattern to the respective categories of staff as the IDA pattern cannot be taken to debar any revision of pay scales.