Industrial Disputes — Wage scales — Classification. Appeal by special leave (Civil Appeal No. 528 of 1962) from the award dated March 10, 1962 of the Industrial Tribunal, Maharashtra in Reference No. (IT) 114 of 1961, confined to (i) wage scales and (ii) classification. HELD: (i) The wage scales fixed in 1949 had come up for revision in 1957 when only the Mazdoor I and Mazdoor II scales were changed; with the cost of living rising since 1957 (dearness allowance fully neutralising it only at a basic wage of about Rs. 30/-) and comparable prosperous concerns paying higher wages under later awards/agreements, a case for revision in 1962 was made out; the appellant's comparison charts failed because its dearness allowance was computed on a different basis, and after revision the company still led in total wage packet. (ii) The appellant, the only company of its kind in Bombay, was properly compared with the engineering firms it had itself relied on; oil refineries, Greaves Cotton, Associated Cement Companies and Imperial Tobacco were rightly excluded; no mistake in selecting comparables. (iii) Three slips corrected by the Tribunal (carpenters, assistant foremen, cylinder weighers) and one further slip (masons — minimum fixed above the demanded minimum) did not vitiate an otherwise careful award; the Supreme Court corrected the masons' grade to 60-4-100-5-110 on the respondents' concession that the starting pay be Rs. 60/-. (iv) Classification is of two kinds — classification of jobs, which if disputed is for the Tribunal, and fitting of existing staff into classified jobs, which may appropriately be left to the employer in consultation with the Union, disputed cases alone going to the Tribunal; the Tribunal's direction on the second kind was not erroneous; Novel Dry Cleaners ([1962] I LL.J. 271) distinguished, French Motor Car Co. Ltd. ([1963] Supp. 2 S.C.R. 16) relied on. Appeal dismissed except for the modification regarding masons; no order as to costs.
