The workmen are not entitled to a share in the bonus under the terms of the agreements entered into by the appellants with the Government and they are also not entitled to claim incentive bonus de hors the agreements as there was no allegation or evidence that the appellants made profits due to the contribution which the workmen made in increasing the production.

Judgment

K. SUBBA RAO, J. : This appeal by Special Leave is directed against the decision and Order of the Labour Appellate Tribunal of India. Bombay, dated 18-5-1955, modifying the Order of the Industrial Tribunal dated 31-8-1953. The appellants were Government contractors for clearing and transporting of imported foodgrains. They entered into three agreements with the Government - the first and the second appellants on 5-2-1952 and the third appellant on 1-11-1951 - for clearing the cargo at prescribed rates. The three agreements contained similar terms. The said agreements provided that if the rate of discharge on a ship exceeded 1,500 tons per 24 hours and no shed demurrage was incurred, the Government was liable to pay to the appellants remuneration at the prescribed rates plus a bonus of As. 4/- per ton, and if the rate of discharge fell below tons per 24 hours or shed demurrage was incurred Government was liable to pay to the appellants remuneration at the prescribed rates less As 8/- per ton. The appellants, for the purpose of carrying out their part of the contracts, employed workmen through muccadums (i.e., gang leaders) on piece rate basis for the purpose of clearing, filing and handling foodgrains, flour and other foodstuffs and loading the same for transport. The total number of workmen employed for the said purpose aggregated to about 2,500 and the appellants carried out the work in three shifts. In March 1952, disputes arose between the appellants 1 and 2 and the workmen employed by them. The second and the third respondents, two unions representing the workmen, demanded for an increase in wages and also put forward a claim for payment of bonus of As. 4/- per ton which the appellants might receive from the Government. On 24-3-1952, a settlement was arrived at between the appellants 1 and 2 and the workmen, in and by which the said appellants agreed to pay to the workmen, with effect from 25-3-1952, wages which were considerably higher than the wages which the appellants 1 and 2 were paying before. Though the third appellants were not a party to the said settlement, they also paid the increased wages to the workmen employed by them. The settlement, however did not cover the claim of the workers to the bonus of As. 4 per ton. As the dispute to that extent was not settled, the Central Government, holding that an Industrial Dispute existed between the appellants and the respondents regarding payment of incentive bonus , referred the said dispute for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal consisting of Shri S. H. Naik as the sole member. The Industrial Tribunal held, mainly on the basis of a letter written by the Government in September, 1951, that the intention of the Government in granting a bonus of As. 4/- per ton to the appellants was that they should pass it on to the labour. It also sustained the claim on equitable considerations, namely, that the employees, who were all temporary workmen, not entitled to gratuity, Provident Fund and other benefits, should get incentive bonus, when dock workers in the Port Trust and stevedore workers under the Dock Labour Board were getting it. On those grounds, among others, the Tribunal directed the appellants to pay to the workmen concerned incentive bonus referred to in Clause 7(2) of the agreements with effect from 1st November, 1951, and further directed that the arrears should be paid within two months from the date on which the award became enforceable. The appellants carried the matter by way of appeal to the Labour Appellate Tribunal of India. The said Appellate Tribunal, on the materials placed before them, held that in the agreements entered into between the Government and the appellants there was no term to the effect that the bonus of As 4/- per ton was to be passed on to the labour concerned in the work. But, having regard to all the circumstances of the case they were of the view that whatever might have been the strict legal rights of the workmen to the said i