Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
ROYAL TALKIES, HYDERABAD & ORS.
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
EMPLOYEES STATE INSURANCE CORP.
DATE OF JUDGMENT09/08/1978
BENCH:
KRISHNAIYER, V.R.
BENCH:
KRISHNAIYER, V.R.
DESAI, D.A.
CITATION:
1978 AIR 1478 1979 SCR (1) 80
1978 SCC (4) 204
CITATOR INFO :
R 1980 SC2038 (3)
R 1984 SC1916 (8)
RF 1986 SC1687 (14)
RF 1992 SC 573 (11,38)
ACT:
Employes Stale Insurance ACT, 1948, S. 2(9),
definitional amplitude and consequential fall-out of
statutory obligations-Whether a cinema theatre manager who
has no statutory obligation TO run a canteen or Private
cycle-stand but for the better amenities of his customers
and improvement of his business enters into an arrangement
with another lo maintain a canteen and a cycle-stand and
that other employs, on his own, workers in connection with
The canteen and The cycle stand, can be held liable for
contribution as the "principal employer’ of The workmen
although they are engaged independently by the owner of the
canteen or the cycle-stand.
HEADNOTE:
The appellants are owners of theaters in the twin
cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, where fulls are
exhibited. Within the same premises as the theaters, in
every case, there is a canteen and a cycle stand, leased out
to contractors under instruments of lease. The contractors
employ their own servants to run the canteen and the cycle
stand. In regard to persons so employed by the contractors
the owners of the theaters were treated as ’principal
employers’ and notices of demands were issued to them
calling upon them to pay contribution under the Employees
State Insurance Act. Thereupon the appellant filed an
application under s. 75 of the Act before the Employees
Insurance Court for a declaration that the provisions of the
Act were not application to their theaters and that they
were not liable to any contribution in respect of the
persons employed in the canteen and the cycle stands
attached to their theaters. The Insurance Court found "that
the canteens are meant primarily for the convenience and
comfort for those visiting the cinema theaters though in a
few cases the persons in-charge of the canteens seem to be
allowing the general public also to have access to the
canteens" and that the cycle stands "are meant exclusively
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for the convenience of the persons visiting the theaters".
The Insurance Court held that the owners of the theaters
were, therefore, principal employers with reference to the
persons employed by the contractors in the canteens and the
cycle stands attached to the theaters and rejected the
application filed by the contractors under s. 75 of the Act.
In appeal the High Court confirmed the said findings and
hence the appeal by special leave.
Dismissing the appeal, the court
^
HELD: (1) Law is essentially the formal expression of
the regulation of. economic relations in society. In view of
the complexities of modern business organisations, ’the
principal employer’ is made primarily liable for payment of
contribution "in respect of every employee, whether directly
employed by him or by or through an immediate employer,"
under the Insurance Act, the main purpose of which is to
insure all employees in factories or establishments against
sickness and allied disabilities, but the funding. to
implement the policy of insurance is by contribution from
the employers and the employees. The benefits belong to the
employees and are intended to embrace as extensive a circle
81
as is feasible. In short the social orientation, protective
purpose and human A coverage of the Act are important
considerations in the statutory construction, more weighty
than mere logomachy or grammatical nicety. [83A, 85G-H, 86A-
B]
(2) In the field of labour jurisprudence, welfare
legislation and statutory construction which must have due
regard to Part IV of the Constitution, a teleological
approach and social perspective must play upon the
interpretative process. ’The reach and range of the
definition of ’employee’ in s. 2(9) of the E.S.I. Act is
apparently wide and deliberately transcends pure contractual
relationships. [88C]
(3) Clause (9) of s. 2 contains two substantive parts.
Unless the person employed qualifies under both he is not an
employee. Firstly he must be employed "in or in connection
with" the work of an establishment. The expres- sion "in
connection with the work of an establishment’’ ropes in a
wide variety of workmen who may not be employed in the
establishment. Some nexus must exist between the
establishment and the work of the employee but it may be a
loose connection. "In connection with the work of an
establishment" only postulates some connection between what
the employee does and the work of the establishment. He may
not do anything directly for the establishment concerned; he
may not clo anything statutorily obligatory in the
establishment; he may not do anything which is primary or
necessary for the survival or smooth running of the
establishment or integral to the adventure. It is enough if
the employee does some work which is ancillary, incidental
or has relevance to or link with the object of the
establishment. Surely, the amenity or facility for the
customers who frequent the establishment has connection with
the work of the establishment. the question is not whether
without theat amenity or facility the establishment cannot
be carried on but whether such amenity or facility even
peripheral may be, has not a link with the establishment.
Nor indeed is it legal ingredient that such adjunct should
be exclusively for the establishment if it is mainly its
ancillary. [88 D.G, 89 C]
The primary test in the substantive clause being thus
wide, the employees of the canteen and the cycle stand may
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be correctly described as employed in connection with the
work of the establishment. A narrower constriction may be
possible but a larger ambit is clearly imported by a purpose
oriented interpretation. The whole goal of the statute is to
make the principal employer primarily liable for the
insurance of kindred kinds of employees on the premises,
whether they are there in the work or are merely in
connection with the work of the establishment. Merely being
employed in connection with the work of establishment, in
itself, does not entitle a person to be an "employee". He
must not only be employed in connection with the work of the
establishment but also be shown to be employed in one or
other of the three categories mentioned in s. 2(9) (1).
[89D-F]
(4) S. 2(9) (i) covers only employees who are directly
employed by the ’principal employer’. It is imperative that
any employee who is not directly employed by the principal
employer cannot be eligible under s. 2(9) (i). In the
present case the employees concerned are admittedly not
directly employed by the cinema proprietors. [89F-G]
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(5) The language of s. 2(9) (ii) is extensive and
diffusive imaginatively embracing all possible alternatives
of employment by or through an independent employer. In such
cases the principal employer has no direct employment
relationship since the immediate employer of the employee
concerned is someone else. Even so such an employee if he
works (a) on the premises of the establishment, or (b) under
the supervision of the principal employer or his agent on
work which is ordinarily part of the work of the
establishment or which is preliminary to the work carried on
in or incidental to the purpose of the establishment",
qualifies under s. 2(9) (ii). The plurality of persons
engaged in various activities who are brought into the
definitional net is wide and considerable and all that is
necessary is that the employee be on the premises or be
under the supervision of the principal employer or his
agent. [89G-H, 90A-B]
(6) A thing is incidental to another if it merely
appertains to something else as primary. Surely such work
should not be extraneous or contrary to the purpose of the
establishment but need not be integral to it either. such
depends upon time and place, habits and appetites, ordinary
expectations and social circumstances. Keeping a cycle stand
and running a canteen are incidental or adjuncts to the
primary purpose of the theatre. [90D-E]
(7) May be punctilious sense of grammar and minute
precision of language may sometimes lend unwitting support
to narrow interpretation. But language is the handmaid, not
mistress. Maxwell and Fowler move along different streets,
sometimes. It will defeat the objects of the statute to
truncate its semantic sweep and throw out of its ambit those
who obviously are within the benign contemplation of the
Act, when, as in s. 2(9) the definition has been cast
deliberately in the widest terms and the draftsman has
endeavoured to cover every possibility so as not exclude
even distant categories of men employed either in the
primary work or cognate activities. Salvationary effort,
when the welfare of the weaker sections of society is the
statutory object and is faced with stultifying effect, is
permissible judicial exercise. The findings, in the instant
case, arc correct and the conclusion reached deserves to be
affirmed. [90G-H, 91A-B]
[In view of the fact that the contribution was
determined without hearing under s. 45-A of the ESI Act, the
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Court directed the Corporation authorities to give a, fresh
hearing to the principal employers i.e. the employers in
tune with the ruling of this Court in the Central Press case
[19771] 3 SCR 351.
JUDGMENT:
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal Nos. 122
1244 of 1978.
Appeal by special leave from the Judgment and order
dated 23-11-77 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in appeals
against orders Nos. 236, 237, 241 to 243, 246, 253 to 260,
287, 288, 293, and 294 of 1977.
Y. S. Chitale, A. A. Khan, J. B. Dadachanji and D. N.
Mishra for the appellants.
S.V. Gupte, Attorney General of India and Girish
Chandra for the Respondent.
83
The order of the Court was delivered by
KRISHNA IYER, J. Law is essentially the formal
expression of the regulation of economic relations in
society. That is the key note thought in this case" where
the core question is: who is an employee ? Secondly, to
decide the meaning of a welfare measure a feeling for the
soul of the measure is a surer guide than meticulous
dissection with lexical tools alone. The definitional
amplitude of ’employee’ in section 2(9) of the Employees’
State Insurance Act, 1948, (hereinafter referred to as the
Act), is the sole contentious issue canvassed by counsel at
the bar. We have heard Sri Chitale for the appellant and the
learned Attorney General for the respondent-Corporation at
some length, because a decision by this Court as to the
width of the definition and consequential fall-out of
statutory obligations may cover a considerable number of
establishments. We have granted leave to appeal on that
basis and now proceed to study the anatomy of ’employee’ as
defined in section 2(9) of the Act.
A brief factual narration may help get a hang of the
case. The High Court, before which the present appellants
had filed fruitless appeals has summarised the facts
succinctly thus:
"The appellants are owners of theatres in the twin
cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, where films are
exhibited. Within the same premises as the theatre, in
every case, there in a canteen and a cycle stand. The
canteen and the cycle stand are leased out to
contractors under instruments of lease. The contractors
employ their own servants to run the can teen and the
cycle stand. In regard to persons so employed by the
contractors, the owners of the theatres were treated
’Principal Employers’ and notices of demand were issued
to them calling upon them to pay contribution under the
employees’ State Insurance Act. Thereupon the owners of
theaters filed application under Section 75 of the
Employees State Insurance Act before the Employees
Insurance Court for a declaration that the provisions
of the Act were not applicable to their theaters and
that they were not liable to any contribution in
respect of the persons employed in the can teens and
cycle stands attached to the theaters.
The Insurance Court, on a consideration of the relevant
lease deeds and other evidence, noticed the following
features in regard to the running of the canteens:-
"(1) All these canteens are within the premisses
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of the cinema theatres (2) A few of these canteens have
access
84
directly from the abutting roads whereas the other
canteens can be reached only through the open space
inside the cinema theatres. (3) The persons running the
canteens are them selves responsible for equipping the
canteens with the necessary furniture and for providing
the required utensils. (4) The Managements of all these
Cinema theaters pay the electricity charges due in
respect of these canteens. (5) The persons working in
these canteens are employed only by the contractors or
tenants who run the canteens and they alone are
responsible for the salaries payable to the persons.
(6) The managements of the cinema theatres have
absolutely no supervisory control over the persons
employed in these canteens. (7) These canteens have to
be run only during the show hours. This is made
abundantly clear by Exhibits P-7 to P-10 and in the,
face of the recitals contained in these agreements, I
am not prepared to accept P.W. 1’s evidence that the
tenants of these canteens are at liberty to run them at
other times also. In particular Exhibit P-10 provides
that the lessee shall run the business only during the
show hours and that it shall be closed as soon as the
cinema shows are closed. (8) A few of the persons
working in the can teens are allowed inside the
auditorium during the interval for vending eatables and
beverages. They can enter the auditorium a few minutes
before the interval and can remain inside the
auditorium for a few minutes after the interval. (9) It
is seen Freon Ex-P. 10 that the management of the
cinema theatre had reserved to itself the right to
specify what types of things should be sold in the
canteen. The canteens are expected to maintain a high
degree of cleanliness and sanitation. (10) In some
cases the managements of the theatres reserve the right
to enter the canteen premises at all reasonable time
for purposes of check and inspection. Ex. P. 9 contains
a specific clause in that regard.
" These features led the Insurance Court to arrive at
the following findings of fact.
"From the several circumstance mentioned above it
is clear that these canteens are meant primarily for
the convenience and comfort of those visiting the
cinema theatres though in a few cases the persons in
charge of canteens seem to be allowing the general
public also to have access to the canteens taking
advantage of the fact that the canteens can be recalls
directly from the abutting road. But this Circum-
85
stance does not by itself indicate that these canteens
are A thrown open to the general public as other
hotels, restaurants or eating houses."
In regard to cycle stands, the Insurance Court held:
"Hence it may safely be concluded that these cycle
stands are meant exclusively for the convenience of
persons visiting B, the theaters."
The Insurance Court found that the owners of theaters
where principal employers with reference to the persons
employed by contractors in the canteens and the cycle stands
attached to the theaters and rejected the applications filed
by the owners of theaters under Sec. 75 of the Act.
The disappointed theatre owners appealed under Sec. 82,
without avail, but undaunted. moved this Court for Special
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Leave to Appeal which we have granted, as stated earlier, so
that we may discuss the facets of the definitional dispute
in some detail and lay down the law on the main question.
A conspectus of the statute, to the extent relevant, is
necessary to appreciate the controversy at the Bar. The
statutory personality and the social mission of the Act once
projected, the resolution of the conflict of interpretation
raised in this case is simple. Although, technically, the
Act is a pre-Constitution one, it is a post-Independence
measure and shares the passion of the Constitution for
social justice. Articles 38, 39, 41, 42,,43 and 43-A of the
Constitution show concern for workers and their welfare.
Since Independence, this legislative motivation has found
expression in many enactments. We are concerned with one
such law designed to confer benefits on this weaker segment
in situations of distress as is apparent from the Preamble.
The machinery for state insurance is set up in the shape of
a Corporation and subsidiary agencies. All employees in
Factories or establishments are sought to be insured against
sickness and allied disabilities, but the funding, to
implement the policy of insurance, is by contributions from
the employer and the employee. In view of the complexities
of modern business organisation the principal employer is
made primarily liable for payment of contribution "in
respect of every employee, whether directly employed by him
or by or through an immediate employer". Of course, where
the employee is not directly employed by him but through
another ’immediate employer’, the principal employer is
empowered to recoup the contribution paid by him on behalf
of the immediate employer (s. 41). There is an Inspectorate
to supervise the determination and levy of the
contributions.
86
There is a chapter prescribing penalties; there is an
adjudicating machinery and there are other policing
processes for the smooth working of the benign project
envisaged by the Act. The benefits belong to the employees
and are intended to embrace is extensive a circle as is
feasible. In short, the social orientation, protective
purpose and human coverage of the Act are important
considerations in the statutory construction, more weighty
than mere logomachy or grammatical nicety.
With this prefatory statement we may go straight to the
crucial definition. The essential question is whether a
cinema theatre manager who has no statutory obligation to
run a canteen or provide a cycle stand but, for the better
amenities of his customers and improvement of his business,
enters into an arrangement with another to maintain a
canteen and a cycle stand and that other employs, on his
own, workers in connection with the canteen and the cycle
stand, can be held liable for contribution as the principal
employer of the workmen although they are engaged
independently by the owner of the canteen or the cycle
stand. It is common ground that there is no statutory
obligation on me part of the appellants to run canteens or
keep cycle stands. It is common ground? again. that the
workers with whom we are concerned are not directly employed
by the appellants and, if we go by the master and servant
relationship under the law of contracts, there is no
employer-employee nexus. Even so, it has been held cone
currently by the Insurance Court and the High Court that
"canteens are meant primarily for the convenience and
comfort of persons visiting the theatres and the cycle-
stands are meant exclusively for the convenience of the
persons visiting theatres" and "that the persons employed in
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the‘ canteens and cycle stands are persons employed on work
which is ordinarily part of the work of the theatre or
incidental to the purpose of the theatres. In relation to
the person so employed, therefore, the owners of the
theatres are principal employers.’’ The High Court proceeded
further to affirm:-
"By undertaking to run the canteen or the cycle
stand the contractor has undertaken the execution of
the whole or part of the work which is ordinarily part
of the work of the theatre of the principal employer or
is incidental for the purpose of the theatre. We have
already held that the running of canteen or cycle stand
is work carried on in connection with the work of the
theatre, work which may be considered to be either
ordinarily part of the work of the theatre or
incidental to the purpose of the theatre. If so, there
is no reason why the contractor should not come within
the definition of ’immediate employer’ ".
87
Before us counsel have mainly focussed on the
definition of "employee" since the short proposition which
creates or absolves liability of the appellants depends on
the canteen workers and the cycle stand attendants being
’employees’ vis-a-vis the theatre owners. There is no doubt
that a cinema theatre is an ’establishment’ and that the
appellants, as theatre owners, are principal employers,
being persons responsible for the supervision and control of
the establishment. Admittedly, the canteens and cycle stands
are within the theatre premises. Within this factual metrix
let us see if the definition in S. 2(9) will fit.
We may read the definition of "employee" once again
before analysing the components thereof -
2(9) "employee" means any person employed for
wages in or in connection with the work of a factory or
establishment to which this Act applies, and
(i) who is directly employed by the principal
employer or any work of, or incidental or
preliminary to or connected with the work, of
the factory or establishment, whether such
work is done by the employee in the factory
or establishment or elsewhere; or
(ii) who is employed by or through an immediate
employer on the premises of the factory of
establishment or under the supervision of the
principal employer or his agent on work which
is ordinarily part of the work of the factory
or establishment or which is preliminary to
the work carried on in or incidental to the
purpose of the factory or establishment, or
(iii)whose services are temporarily lent or let on
hire to the principal employer by the person
with whom the person whose services are so
lent or let on hire has entered into a
contract of service; and includes any person
employed for wages on any work connected with
the administration of the factory or
establishment or any part, department or
branch thereof or with the purchase of raw
materials for, or the distribution or sale of
the products of, the factory or
establishment; but does not include:-
(a) any member of the Indian naval, military
or air forces; or
88
(b) any person so employed whose wages
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(excluding remuneration for overtimes
work) exceed five hundred rupees a
month:-
Provided that an employee whose wages (excluding
remuneration for overtime work) exceed five-hundred
rupees a month at any time after and not before, the
beginning of the contribution period, shall continue to
be an employee until the end of that period.
The reach and range of the definition is apparently
wide and deliberately transcends pure contractual
relationships. We are in the field of labour jurisprudence,
welfare legislation and statutory construction which must
have due regard to Part IV of the Constitution. A
teleological approach and social perspective must play upon
the interpretative process.
Now here is a break-up of Sec. 2(9). The clause
contains two substantive parts. Unless the person employed
qualifies under both he is not an ’employee’. Firstly he
must be employed "in or in connection with the work of an
establishment. The expression "in connection with the work
of an establishment" ropes in a wide variety of workmen who
may not be employed in the establishment but may be engaged
only in connection with the work of the establishment. Some
nexus must exist between the establishment and the work of
the employee but it may be a loose connection. ’in
connection with the work of an establishment’ only
postulates some connection between what the employee does
and the work of the establishment. He may not do anything
directly for the establishment; he may not do anything
statutorily obligatory in the establishment; he may not even
do any thing which is primary or necessary for the survival
or smooth running of the establishment or integral to the
adventure. It is enough if the employee does some work which
is ancillary, incidental or has relevance to or link with
the object of the establishment. Surely, an amenity or
facility for the customers who frequent the establishment
has connection with the work of the establishment. The
question is not whether without that amenity or facility the
establishment cannot be carried on but whether such amenity
or facility, even peripheral may be, has not a link with the
establishment. Illustrations may not be exhaustive but may
be informative. Taking the present case, an establishment
like a cinema theatre is not bound to run a canteen or keep
a cycle stand (in Andhra Pradesh) but no one will deny that
a can teen service, a toilet service, a car park or cycle
stand, a booth foresail of catchy film literature on actors,
song hits and the like, surely have connection with the
cinema theatre and even further the venture.
89
On the other hand, a book-stall where scientific works or
tools are A sold or stall where religious propaganda is
done, may not have anything to do with the cinema
establishment and may, therefore, be excluded on the score
that the employees do not do any work in connection with the
establishment, that is, the theatre. In the case of a five-
star hotel, for instance, a barber shop or an arcade,
massage parlour, foreign exchange counter or tourist
assistance counter may be run by some one other than the
owner of the establishment but the employees so engaged do
work in connection With the establishment or the hotel even
though there is no obligation for a hotel to, maintain such
an ancillary attraction. By contrast, not a lawyer’s chamber
or architect’s consultancy. Nor indeed, is it a legal
ingredient that such adjunct should be exclusively for the
establishment, if it is mainly its ancillary.
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The primary test in the substantive clause being thus
wide, the employees of the canteen and the cycle stand may
be correctly described as employed in connection with the
work of the establishment. A narrower construction may be
possible but a larger ambit is clearly imported by a
purpose-oriented interpretation. The whole goal of the
statute is to make the principal employer primarily liable
for the insurance of kindred kinds of employees on the
premises, whether they are there in the work or are merely
in connection with the work of the establishment.
Merely being employed in connection with the work of an
establishment, in itself, does not entitle a person to be
’employee’. He must not only be employed in connection with
the work of the establishment but also be shown to be
employed in one or other of the three categories mentioned
in Sec. 2(9).
Sec. 2(9) (i) covers only employees who are directly
employed by the principal employer. Even here, there are
expressions which take in a wider group of employees than
traditionally so regarded, but it is imperative that any
employee who is not directly employed by the principal
employer cannot be eligible under Sec. 2’(9) (i) . In the
present case, the employees concerned are admittedly not
directly employed by the cinema proprietors.
Therefore, we move down to Sec. 2(9) (ii). Here again,
the language used is extensive and diffusive imaginatively
embracing all Possible alternatives of employment by or
through all independent employer. In such cases, the
’principal employer’ has no direct employment relationship
since the ’immediate employer’ of the employee, concerned is
some one else. Even so, such an employee, if 7-520SCI/78
90
he works (a) on the premises of the establishment, or (b)
under the supervision of the Principal employer or his agent
’‘on work which is ordinarily part of the work of the
establishment or which is preliminary to the work carried on
in or incidental to the purpose of the establishment",
qualifies under Sec. 2(9) (ii). The plurality of persons
engaged in various activities who are brought into the
definitional net is wide and considerable; and all that is
necessary is that the employee be on the premises or be
under the supervision of the principal employer or his
agent. Assuming that the last part of Sec. 2(9) (ii)
qualifies both these categories, all that is needed to
satisfy that requirement is that the work done by the
employee must be (a) such as is ordinarily (not necessarily
nor statutorily) part of the work of the establishment, or
(b) which is merely preliminary to the work carried on in
the establishment, or (c) is just incidental to the purpose
of the establishment. No one can seriously say that a
canteen or cycle stand or cinema magazine booth is not even
incidental to the purpose of the theatre. The cinema goers
ordinarily find such work an advantage, a facility an
amenity and some times a necessity. All that the statute
requires is that the work should not be irrelevant to the
purpose of the establishment. It is sufficient if it is
incidental to it. A thing is incidental to another if it
merely appertains to something else as primary. Surely, such
work should not be extraneous or contrary to the purpose of
the establishment but need not be integral to it either.
Much depends on time and place, habits and appetites,
ordinary expectations and social circumstances. In our view,
clearly the two operations in the present case, namely,
keeping a cycle stand and running canteen are incidental or
adjuncts to the primary purpose of the theatre.
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We are not concerned with Sec. 2(9) (iii) nor with the
rest of the definitional provision.
Shri Chitale tried to convince us that on a minute
dissection of the various clauses of the provision it was
possible to exclude canteen employees and cycle stand
attendants. May-be, punctilious sense of grammar and minute
precision of language may sometimes lend unwitting support
to narrow interpretation. But language is handmaid, not
mistress. Maxwell and Fowler move along different streets,
sometimes. When, as in Sec. 2(9), the definition has been
cast deliberately in the widest terms and the draftsman has
endeavoured to cover every possibility so as not to exclude
even distant categories of men employed either in the
primary work or cognate activities, it will defeat the
object of the statute to truncate its semantic sweep and
throw out of its ambit those who obviously are within the
benign
91
contemplation of the Act. Salvationary effort, when the
welfare of the weaker sections of society is the statutory
object and is faced with stultifying effect, is permissible
judicial exercise.
In this view we have no doubt that the findings
assailed before us are correct and that the conclusion
reached deserves to be affirmed. We do so.
Learned counsel for the appellants finally submitted
that, in this event of our negativing his legal contention,
he should be given the benefit of natural justice. We agree.
The assessment of the quantum of the employers’ contribution
has now been made on an ad hoc basis because they merely
pleaded non-viability and made no returns. on the strength
of Sec. 45A the contribution was determined without hearing.
In the circumstances of the case, -and the learned Attorney
General has no obiection-we think it right to direct the
relevant Corporation authorities to give a fresh hearing to
the principal employers concerned, if sought within 2 months
from to-day, to prove any errors or infirmities in the
physical determination of the contribution. Such a hearing
in tune with the ruling, of this Court in the Central Press
case(1) is fair and so we order that the assessment shall be
reconsidered in the light of a de novo hearing to the
appellants and the quantum of contribution affirmed or
modified by fresh orders.
Before we formally wind up we think it apt to make a
critical remark on the cumbersome definition in Sec. 2(9) of
the Act when has promoted considerable argument. This
reminds us of the well-known dictum or Sir James Fitzjames
Stephen "that in drafting it is not enough to gain a degree
of precision which a person reading in good faith can
understand, hut it is necessary to attain if possible to a
degree of precision which a person reading in bad faith
cannot misunderstand."(2)
Subject to this direction we dismiss the appeals with
costs (one set) .
S.R. Appeals dismissed
(1)[1977] 3 S.C.R. 35.
(2)Lux Gentium Lex-Than and Now 1799-1974 p. 7.
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