Judgment

VAIDIALINGAM, J.: This appeal by special leave by the Vizagapatnam Dock Labour Board (hereinafter referred to as the Board), is directed against the award, dated May 24, 1968 of the Industrial Tribunal, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, in I. D. No. 10 of 1967 holding that the appellant should pay the Dock workers employed at Vizagapatnam Port bonus for the accounting years 1964-65, 1965-66 and 1966-67.

2. The Central Govt., by its order dated April 13, 1967, referred for adjudication to the said Tribunal the question whether the demand for payment of bonus to Dock Labour Board Workers employed at Visakhapatnam Port for the accounting years 1964-65, 1965-66 and 1966-67 was justified and, if so, at what rate should such bonus be paid. The parties to the Reference included the Board, the Visakhapatnam Stevedores Association, certain individual Stevedores and two. Unions representing workers. The two Unions were the Port Khalasis Union and the Dock Workers Union.

3. Both the Unions filed statements of claim on behalf of their workmen. They referred to the demands made by them for payment of bonus and the rejection thereof by the Board and the Stevedores Association. They referred to certain agreements having been reached in respect of bonus between the workmen and the respective Stevedores Associations, in Calcutta, Cochin, Madras and Bombay. They claimed that the work done by the workmen at Visakhapatnam Port was exactly similar to the type of work done by the Stevedores workmen at Bombay, Calcutta, Cochin and Madras and that therefore their claim for bonus was justified. They further referred to the fact that the Board and the Stevedores Association were all governed by the Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (Act IX of 1948) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and the Vizagapatnam Dock Workers Regulation of Employment) Scheme, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the Scheme), framed thereunder. The said Scheme is similar to the Scheme obtaining in the areas where a settlement had been entered into regarding bonus and the relationship between the Stevedores and the Dock Labour Board was also the same in all ports. The Unions claimed bonus at 14 paise per ton for 1964-65, 15 paise per ton for 1965-66 and 16 paise per ton for 1966-67.

4. The Visakhapatnam Stevedores Association and its member Stevedores filed statements contesting the claim of the workmen. After referring to some of the provisions of the Act and the Scheme, the Association urged that the Dock workers were the workmen of the Board as all the ingredients of master and servant existed as between the Board and the Dock workers. The Association further urged that the Dock Labour workers were not the employees of the Stevedores and, as such no claims for bonus could be made as against the Stevedores Association or its members. The Association further pleaded that it was an unnecessary party to the Reference and the workmen had no claim as against it in view of the fact that the Association or its members were not the employers of the dock workers. They also contested the claim of the workmen on merits.

5. The Board, represented by its Chairman, filed a written statement contesting the claim of the Stevedores that they were not the employers of the dock workers. The Board claimed that it was a statutory body constituted under the Act and governed by the statutory Scheme in the discharge of its statutory functions. According to it none of the functions discharged by it under the Act or the Scheme could be characterised as carrying on of an industry so as to attract the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act. On the other hand, the Board urged that it was the Stevedores and their Association that carried on the stevedoring industry during the years for which a claim for bonus was made by the workmen and therefore, if at all, the liability for payment of bonus should be that of the Stevedores and their Association. It further urged that the claim, having been