IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
CHAGLA C. J.
S. P. Awate, Petitioner
Versus.
C. P. Fernandes and another, Opponents.
Civil Appln. for Review No. 2249 of 1956, D/- 17-6-1956.
(2) The facts briefly are that the petitioner in this case was a ticket collector employed by the railway authorities on the 14th January 1948 on wages which amounted with all the allowances to Rs. 150-8-0, and on the 27th August 1955 he was served with a charge-sheet and suspended and during the period of suspension he was paid only Rs. 104, and the petitioner thereupon filed an application before the Payment of Wages Authority claiming the difference between his contractual wages and the wages which he was being paid by the railway authorities. It was not disputed before us in that case that the payment made by the railway authorities was according to the rules. The rules dealt with a case of suspension and what a railway servant was entitled to when he was under suspension. Nor was it disputed that these rules formed part of the Railway Code which was enacted under the authority of the Governor General. What was argued before us was that the Payment of Wages Act should prevail over the rules framed by the railway authorities and that if the Payment of Wages Act prohibited the deduction of any amount from the wages of an employee, then the railway authorities could not deduct any part of the wages even if the rules in the Railway Code permitted them to do so. This argument was considered and rejected by us and both the argument and the reason for its rejection appear in the reported judgment of 58 Bom LR 821. In rejecting the argument we considered the scheme of the Government of India Act and we pointed out that under section 241(2) power was conferred upon the Governor General to make rules with regard to the conditions of service of persons serving His Majesty in a civil capacity in India, and we also took the view that under sub-section (4) of section 241 power was given to the Legislature to regulate the conditions of service, but looking to the language of sub section (4) that power was intended to be exercised after the Government of India Act Came into force and it did not deal with any laws passed by the Legislature prior to the coming into force of the Government of India Act. Having taken that view we pointed out that the Payment of Wages Act came into force on the 28th March 1937 and the Government of India Act came into force on the 1st April 1937. Therefore, as far as the Government of India Act was concerned, the rules which were to be framed by the Governor General were to prevail over any legislation prior to the passing of the Government of India Act, even assuming that that legislation dealt with the subject of regulation of service of railway employees. Having come to that conclusion, we turned to the Indian Constitution to point out that the provisions of law in the Government of India Act and the Indian Constitution Were not parallel and we referred to
Login now and unlock free premium legal research
Login to SupremeToday AI and access free legal analysis, AI highlights, and smart tools.
Login
now!
India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!
Copyright © 2023 Vikas Info Solution Pvt Ltd. All Rights Reserved.