JUDGMENT :

ABHYANKAR, J.

1. The petitioner-company deals in bidis. It supplied raw material to independent contractors and obtained katcha bidis prepared and rolled by workers employed by such independent contractors. Respondents 2 to 48 who are 47 in number, collectively, on the other hand, claim to be employees for bidi-rolling work, employed by the petitioner-company. These several respondents filed an application before respondent 1, which is a labour court at Nagpur, complaining that they had not been paid at the minimum rate of wages fixed by the State Government for workers in bidi industry, under a notification dated 14 June, 1958, which came into force from 1 July, 1958. The respondent-workers claimed the difference between the wages actually paid and the wages payable at the minimum rate of wages fixed under the Minimum Wages Act by the State Government for the period from 1 May, 1959 to 15 December, 1961. The applications were filed on or about 10 April, 1964.

2. The petitioner-company, which was noticed in each application, contested the claim of the respondent-workers