A. V. DCOSTA versus B. C. PATEL AND ANOTHER.

inconsistent . witli . the provisions of sections . 7. and 11 of the Act. '. .. . . . . . . . . . " .. ,, ·It remains to consider the last argument advanced on behalf ·of the lst · respondent that section. 23 of the. Act prohibits an employee from relinquishing such right as is the subject matter of rule 3(i) · quoted above. This argument proceeds on the . assumpti9n that house rent allowance which is right. con-ferred on the employee is an absolute right. It has already been held above that the Act read along with the rules which constitute the terms of the contract between the employer and the employee does not create any absolute right in the employee to the house rent allowance. That being so, there is no question of the employee relinquishing any such · right as is contemplated by section 23.

For the reasons aforesaid, the appeal succeeds. The orders passed by the Authority are set aside. Jn the special circumstances of this case there will be no order as to costs.

Appeal allowed: .

A. V. D'COSTA

B. C. PATEL AND ANOTHER.

[VIVIAN BosE, ]AGANNADHADAS, VENKATARAMA AYYAR and SINHA JJ.]

Payment of Wages Act, 1936, (IV of 1936), Ss. 5, 7, 15(1)(2)-Claim for wages due on account of the introduction of upgrading of persons-Claimant's right to be placed on monthly wages ignored-No delay in payment of wages or deduction of wages alleged-Autho-rity under the Act-Whether had jurisdiction to decide the complaint of the applicant.

The second respondent had been an employee of the Central Railway as daily rated casual labourer on specified daily wages since 1941. He continued to receive his wages at the specified rate until October 1949. In October 1949 he made an application through an official of the Registered Trade Union-a person permitted by the authority under sub-section (2) of s. 15 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936-claiming his wages due in respect of six months from May to October 1949. The respondent did not allege delay in the

The Divisional Engineer, G./.P. Railway v.

Mahadeo Raghoo and another Sinha J.

March 4

A. V. D'Costa v. B. C. 'Patel and another

payment of ·his wages or deduction _of ,his wages ~n contravent;ion of the provisions of s. 5 or s. ·7 of Act IV of 1936 respectively. The res-pondeot alleged that he had been paid his actual wageS' as fixed by the railv.ray adn1inistration but that after the introduction of the scheme of upgrading of persons employed under the ·daily wages scheme, others who ·were· junior to him had been _placed on the monthly wages scheme whereas his claim to be so placed, had been ignored and that he had not been ·paid wages oi:i the .~cale to which he would have been entitled .if he had been placed on the monthly wages scheme.

Held, per SINHA J. (V1v1AN BosE and VENKATAMM~ AYYAR JJ. corzcurring, JAGAN_NADHADAs J. dissenting), that the respondent's complaint feJl under the category of potential wages· and the autho-rity appointed under the Act had no jurisdiction .to decide the ques-tion of potential wages. It had the jurisdiction to decide what actually ·the t_erms of the contract between the parties. were, that is to say, to· determine the ~c.tual wages. · On the case as made on behalf of the· respondent, orders of the sup·erior officers were. necessary to upgrade him from daily wage~ earner to higher cadre. ·rhe authority under the Act has not bee~ e~mpow.ered -~nder s. :is to make such .direction to the superior officers. · ·Per }AGANNADHADAS J.-Undoubtedly claim to higher potential wage ·cannot ·!be brought in under the category of "claim arising out of deduction from the wages or delay in payment of the wages" if that wage depended on the "determination by a. superior departmental or other authority as to whether or not particular em· ployee is entitled to the higher wage-a determination which in· volves the exercise of administrative judgment or discretion or certi· fication, and which would, in such situation, be condition of the payability of the wage. But where the higher wage does not depend upon such determination hut depends on the application of and giving effect to certain rules and orders which, for this purpose, must be deemed to be incorporated in the contract of employment, such wage is not prospective wage merely ·because the paying -authority concerned ·makes defau~t or commits error in working out the application .of the rules. The wage .under the Act .i.s not n~ces­sarily the .immediately pre~existing wage but the presently payable wage. _Whether·or' not an ·employee was entitled to wages of higher category than what he was till then drawing would depend entirely on the sc<?pe of the rules with reference to which he is entitled to become one in t~e· higher category and it cannot be .assumed priori that such ·claim is claim -to "prospective wages[1]".

On the facts of the case as found the. dispute as to the wage was one that fell within the jurisdiction of the ·'.'authority". concerned.

Appeal by Special -Leave from the Judgment and ..... - Order dated the 24th day of August 1951 of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Appeal No. 50 of 1951 arising out of the Order dated the 19th day of June 1951 of the said Court exercising Original Juris--diction in Misc. No. 143 of 1951.

M. C. Setalvad, Attorney-General for India (Porus A. Mehta and P. G. Gokhale, with him), for the appel-lant.

J. B. Dadachanji, M. V. ayakar and Rajinder Narain, for respondent No. 2.

1955. March 4. The Judgment of Vivian Bose, Venkatarama Ayyar and Sinha JJ. was delivered by Sinha J. Jagannadhadas J. delivered separate judgment. SINHA J.-This is an appeal by special leave from the order of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay dated the 24th August 1951 upholding that of single Judge of that court sitting on the Original Side, dis--missing the appellant's petition under art. 226 of the Constitution for writ of certiorari quashing the order dated the 23rd January 1951 passed by the 1st respondent, the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The facts leading up to this appeal may shortly be stated as follows: The 2nd respondent is and has been at all material times an employee of the Central Rail-way (formerly called the G.I.P. Rly.) represented by the appellant who has been nominated by the Rail-way Administration as responsible for payment of wages under section 3 of the Act. Ever since 1941, the 2nd respondent has been employed by the Railway Administration as carpenter on daily wages, and has been treated as daily rated casual labourer and has been paid his wages at the rate of Rs. 3-4-0 per day. He continued receiving his wages at that rate until October, 1949 without any demur, and granting re-ceipts for the wages thus received. On the 2nd Decem-ber, 1949, an application was made by one K. N. Pitkar "an official of Registered Trade Union, person

A. V. D'Costa V• •. C. Patel and ·another

A~ V. D'Cost~ · . v. B. C. Patel 4nd another· Sinha J.

SUPREME COURT "REPORTS

permitted by ·'the Authority" · under _sub-section (2) of section 15 of · the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, against the ·G.I.P. Rly. administration· through its Divisional Engineer, ·Pare!, Bombay. It was alleged ·on behalf of the 2nd respondent that his · wages due in respect of six months from May to October 1949 amounting to Rs .. 245 had not been paid or had been subjected to illegal deductions as shown in the schedule. The sche-dule will be set out hereinafter. claim for Rs. 245 ph.1s Rs. 15 by way of compensation was made.

The appellant, as the opposite party before the Authority, resisted the claim, inter alia, on the grounds---:

( 1) that Rs. 245 had not been illegally deducted from the wages of the 2nd resp0ndent; and (2) that the claim of the 2nd respondent who was employed as daily rated casual labourer on specified daily wages, to be placed on permanent cadre on the scale of monthly rates of pay was unfounded.

it was further alleged that the 2nd respondent did not come within· the purview of the Railway Services (Revision of Pay) Rules as he was daily rated casual labourer charged to works and that no rules had been laid down governing the rates of pay and the condi-tions of service of daily rated casual labourers like the 2nd respondent. Hence his terms of service were the daily wages paid to him all along. It was thus contended that there had been no deduction from his wages. In this connection reference was made to the award of the Railway Workers Classification Tribu-nal, dated the 28th May 1948.

The Authority by its orders dated the 23rd January 1951 decided that the position of the 2nd respondent was not that of casual labourer but that of "tem-porary employee" and that therefore he was entitled to be on the scale of Rs. 55-150 plus the allowances admissible. In coming to this conclusion the Authority observed that the work done by the 2nd respondent is of the same nature as that of member of the permanent staff. Hence the 2nd respondent could not be called casual labourer. It also made reference to

article 39( d) of the Constitution containing the direc-tion that there should be equal pay . for equal work. The Authority also ·negatived the contention raised on behalf of the appellant that the question ·of classifi-cation of an· employee was outside its jurisdiction. In pursuance of the said order the Authority allowed the 2nd respondent's application by · ·its further orders dated the 2nd March 1951. .

Against the said orders of the Authority the appel-lant moved the High Court of Judicature at Bombay by an application under article 226 of the Constitu-tion for quashing the aforesaid orders. The matter was heard in the first· instance by learned single Judge of that court who by his orders. dated the 19th June 1951 dismissed the application. The appellant preferred an appeal under the Letters Patent which was heard by Division Bench of that court. The Division Bench by its order dated the 24th August 1951 dismissed the appeal and agreed with the con-clusions of the Judge on the Original Side that the Authority had not acted without jurisdiction or had not exceeded its jurisdiction in · entertaining the 2nd respondent's application. On the appellant's appli-cation for leave to appeal to this court being rejected by the High Court, the appellant moved this court and obtained special leave to appeal on the 2nd February 1953.

The main controversy between the parties in this court is whether, having regard to the relevant provi-sions of the Act, the 1st respondent was competent to pass the orders it did, which orders had been upheld by the High Court of Bombay.

The Authority set up under section 15 of the statute in question is undisputably tribunal of limited jurisdiction. Its power to hear and determine disputes must necessarily be found in the provisions of the Act. Such tribunal, it is undoubted, cannot determine any controversy which is not within the ambit of those provisions. On examining the rele-vant provisions of the Act it will be noticed that it aims at regulating the payment of wages to certain classes of persons employed in industry. It applies 12 90-S. C. India/59

.. 1955 A. V. D'Costa v.

B. C. Patel and another . Sinha J.

·•955 . A. v. ·n·costa ·v. -B. C. Parel end ·another -· Sinha J.

·1358 •SUPREME COURT REPORTS

['1955J

in the first. instance to the:· payment of.wages to ·per-sons employed fo any .factory or. employed by rail-· way· administration; but. the · State Government ·has the power· after: giving three months' notice to extend the provisions of the ·Act or any of .them. to · ·the •pay-ment of' wages ·to any . cla.ss of persons employed .in any class or group of industrial· .establishments. "Wages" means-"all remuneration, capable of being · expressed in terms of money, which would, if . the terms of •the con-tract of employment, express · or implied, •were ful-·filled, be: ;payabl~: .... :to person employed in respect of his employment or · of work done in such employ-ment .... " (omitting words not necessary for our pre-sent purpose). · · · · · · Section 3 lays down that every · employer or his <e-presentative or nominee ·shall be ·responsible for the payment to persons employed ·by him of all wages. Section 3 ·provides for fixati(>n of "wage-periods" which shall not exceed one month in any· case. Sec-tion 5 indicates the last date within· which, with ref-erence to the particular wage-period, wages shall be paid, Section 7 lays down that the wages ·of · an em-ployed person shall be paid to him without deductions of any kind except those authorized by or under die Act. Section 7(2) in clauses (a) to (k) specifies the heads under which deductions from wages may · be made, namely, fines; deductions for absence from duty; deductions for damage to or loss of goods of the · employer; deductions for house accommodation supplied by the employer; deductions for amenities and services supplied by the employer; deductions for recovery of advances or for adjustment of overpay-ments of wages; deductions of income-tax payable · by the employee; deductions to be made under orders of court or other competent authority; deductions for subscriptions to, ·and for repayment of advances from any provident. fund; deductions for payments to co-operative societies, etc.; and finally, deductions ·made with the ·concurr.ence of the employed person in 'fur-therance· .·of . cenain schemes approved by Government. No .other deductions are permissible. It is also laid

SWPRBME COUR'f REPORTS

down that every>payment·. :m;:tde by .. .the employ.ed. peri son to the· employer or his agent shall be d.eerrw~ to be deduction · from wages. Each of, the ·several, h~ds of deductions aforesaid is dealt with in detail , in sec-tions 8 to· 13. Section· 8 lays down the, c<,)llditio~~ an\! limits subject to which fines may be imposed. and, the procedure· for imposing such· .fines .. , hi ;;i.lso requil;"e$ register of such fines to be. maintained. by. the ;per.son responsible for .. the payment of wages. Section 9 dea~s with deductions on account of absence from .duty and prescribes . the. limits and the proportion therepf to wages.. Section IO similarly deals with deductions for damage or' loss to the employer and the procedure for determining the same.' Like sec;tion . 8, this section also requires register of such deductions and . realiza-.tions to be maintained by the person fesponsible ,for the payment . of wages. Section 11 lays down the limits of deductions for house accommodation and other amenities or services . which , may have been accepted by the employee, subject to such cqnditions as the State Government may .impose. Section 12 lays down the conditions subject to which deductions for recovery of advances may be made from wages .. Finally section 13 provides that the deductions for payment !O co-operative societies and insurance schemes. shall be subject to such conditions as the State. Govern-ment may prescribe. Section 14 makes provision for the appointment of Inspectors for carrying out the purpose of the Act, with power to enter on any pre-mises and to examine any registers or documents re" lating to the calculation or payment of wages and to take evidence on the spot. His function is to s~ that the registers or documents prescribed by the Act ,con-taining the necessary entries as regards deductions and other matters have been properly kept by. the employers or their agents in order to be able to ascer-tain · whether any deductions from wages in excess of the provisions of sections 7 to 13 aforesaid have been made. We then come to section 15 which makes pro-. vision. for the appointment of the . Authority "to . hear and decide for .any specified area all claims arising out 'of deductions from the wages, or delay in payment of

.l/)55 •. V, P'Costa

13, C. Patel imiJ. !UIOl/zer

Sinha J.

1955 A. V. D'Costa ' v. B. C. Pai.I iznd anothir

1360 SUPRBME COURT REPORTS

the wages of persons employed or• paid .in that area". Where · the Authority finds that any · deduction. has been made from the wages of an employed, person or the payment of any wages had been; delayed; he may at the instance ·of the wage-earner himself or any legal practitioner ot any official of registered . trade union . authorized in writing to act on · his ·behalf, or any Inspector under the Act or any other person. act-ing · with the ·permission ·of the Authority, after. mak-ing s1Kh enquiry · as he thinks fit and 'after <giving an opportunity to the person · resp0nsible for ·the pay, ment of. wages urider section 3 tO ,;how · cause; . direct the refund to the employed person· of · the amount deducted or · the payment of delayed wages" together with such · compensation as he may · determine. The section als0 lays down the limits and conditions · of his power to direct payment oL compensation to the employed person . or of penalty to the employer, if. he is satisfied that the application made on· behalf of an employee was either malicious or vexations. · His determination is .final. subject to very limited right of appeal under section 17. Section 18 vests ·the Authority with all the powers of civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, for the purpose of taking evidence, of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and of compelling the production qf documents. Sec: tion 22 lays down that no court shall entertain any suit in respect of wages or of deduction from· wages in so far as the claim forms the subject matter of pending proceeding under the Act or has formed the subject of direction in favour of or against the plaintiff under section 15, or which could have been recovered by the application under that section. Sec-tion 26 empowers the State Government to make rules to regulate the procedure to be followed by the autho-rities and courts referred to in sections 15 and 17 and provides that rules may be made inter alia, requiring the maintenance of records, registers, returns and notices necessary under the Act · and the display 'in conspicuous place of notices specifying the rates of wages payable to persons employed on such premises; and prescribing the authority for making list of

S.C.R. SUPREME COUR17 REPORTS

imposed and the procedure for imposing such fines. acts and omissions in· respect of which fines ma:y be We have set. out· above in some detail the relevant provisions ·of the Act in order to point out that ·those provisions are not applicable to the complaint' made in the present case. In this connection it is necessary to set out in extenso the "particulars of claim" · in the schedule appended to his application which are · as follows:

"The applicant is working as carpenter-mason with the opposite party under I.O.W., Byculla. Accordiilg to the orders on introduction of the pres-cribed scales, the Railway · Administration has to· make the staff working under I.O.W. on permanent monthly wages scheme under the rules of the prescribed scales. The applicant along with others was up till ·now under daily wages scheme. About 20 posts under ·I.O.W. where the applicant is working were to be made per-manent. The opposite party in supersession of claim of the applicant has confirmed his juniors on the per-manent scales as skilled workman in the scale of 55-3-85-4-125-5-130, whereas the opposite party con-tinued to pay the applicant on daily wages scheme thus depriving him of his legitimate wages under the prescribed scale, which resulted in the monetary loss to the applicant of Rs. 40-13-4 ·per month. Notice on behalf of the applicant ·was served on this count ·on the opposite party but of no avail and hence this application. The juniors have been paid under the prescribed scales from April, 1949, from which date the applicant was also entitled to the prescribed 'scale 55-130 (scale for skilled workman)".

There is no allegation of delay in payment of wages inasmuch as it is not the respondent's case that his wages were not paid within the time limit laid down iii section 5; nor are there allegations to· ·show that any payments have been made by the employed per-son to the employer or his agent · which could be deemed to be deduction from his wages within the meaning of section 7. · None of the ·categories of deductions as laid 'down in section 7 have been referred to. In" other words, it is not alleged that his wages

1955 {I· V. D'Costa v. B. C. Patel and atUJthe1" Sinha J.

1955 were so much a"nd that so' much had been deducted A. V.D'Costa ·.under any of the heads set out under section 7(2). v. . ·. The allegations made by the respondent only amount B. c. Patel to saying tha_t he had been paid his actual wages andanother·c_·_as fixed by the railway administration but that after ' the introduction of the scheme of upgrading of per-Sinha J. · sons employed under the daily wages scheme, others .--who were ·junior to him had been placed on the monthly wages scheme whereas his claim to be so placed had been ignored.'. The respondent's main grievance, therefore, appears to be that he had not been paid wages on the scale to which he would have been entitled if he had been placed on the monthly wages scheme. ··· ·In our opinion, the scheme of the Act as set forth above shows that if an employee were. to. state that his wages were, say Rs.100 per month, and that Rs.10 · had been wrongly deducted by the authority respon-sible for the paynient of wages, that is to say, that the deductions could not come under any one of the cate-gories laid down in section 7(2), that would be straight case within the pur:view of the Act and the authority appointed under section 15 could entertain the dispute. But it is said on behalf of the respon-dent that the authority has the jurisdiction not only to make directions contemplated by sub-sec-tion (3) of section 15 to refund to the employed per-son any amount unlawfully deducted but also to find out what the terms of the contract were so as to determine what the wages of the employed person were. There is no difficulty in accepting that pro-position. If the parties entered into the contract of service, say by correspondence and the contract is to be determined with reference to the letters that passed between them, it may be open to the authority· to decide the controversy and find out what the terms of the contract with reference to those ·letters were. But if an employee were to say that his wages were Rs. 100 per month which he actually received as and when they fell due but that he would be entitled to higher wages if his claims to be placed on the higher · w~ges scheme had been recognized andgiven_ effect to,

. ' i\ S.C.R.' SUPREME COURT REPORTS

that would not, in our opinion, be matter within ·the ambit of his jurisdiction. The authority has the jurisdiction to decide what actually the terms of the contract between the parties were,.that is to say, to determine the actual wages; but the authority has no jurisdiction to determine the question of potential wages. The respondent's complaint in the present case comes within the latter illustration. If the respon-. respon-. dent's claim to be placed on the scheme of higher wages had been unduly passed over by the appellant, if indeed he had the power to do so, the obvious re-medy of the respondent. was to approach the higher authorities of the railway administration by[0 ]way __ of departmental appeal or revision; but instead of doing that, he has sought his redress by making. his claim :_ , before the authority under the Act. The question is, has the authority the power to direct the appellant or his superior officers who may have been responsible for the classification, to revise the classification so as to upgrade him from the category of daily wage-earner to that of an employee on the monthly wages scheme. If the respondent had been on the cadre of monthly wages and if the appellant had withheld his rise in wages to which he was automatically entitled, without any orders of his superior officers, he might justly have claimed the redress of his grievance from the authority under the Act, as it would have amount-ed to an underpayment. But· in the present case, on the case as made on behalf of the respondent, orders of the superior officers were necessary to. up-grade him from daily wage-earner to higher cadre. The authority under the Act has not been empowered under section 15 to make any such direction· to those superior officers. The appellant is responsible to pay the respondent only such wages as are shown in the relevant register of wages presumably maintained by the department under the provisions of the.· Act, but he cannot be directed to pay the respondent higher wages on the determination by the authority that he be should have been placed on the monthly wages scheme. · ·

If the respon-. respon-.

In that view of the matter it is not necessary to go

A~ V. D' Costa v. B. C. Patel and another Sinha J.

1955 A. V. D'Costa v.

B. C. Patti and another Sinha ].

1364 -SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1955] into the merits of the. controversy . as to , what .classifi-cation · as adumbrated by · · the ·Railway Workers' ·Classification Tribunal, .·and adopted by. the · Railway administration, · the second · respondent should have been brought under. ·.If that question were . ·open to determination by the Authority, .we would have· had to ·remit the case to the Authority ··to give . fresh oppor-tunity to the parties to adduce. all the relevant evi-dence and then to come to its final conclusiohs, . as it appeared to us during the hearing of the case . that all relevant information had not been placed before the Authority. But, as, in our opinion; that is not matter within' its limited jurisdiction, that contin-gency does not arise.

For the reasons given above we allow this appeal, quash the orde'rs of the Authority and of the High Court, but in the special circumstances of this case we make · no order as to costs.

]AGANNADHADAS J.-I · regret that I ·find · myself unable to agree.

The second respondent before us, employed as carpenter in the Railway since 1941, has' beeri work-ing as daily-rated casual labourer. He claimed that he should have · been absorbed· as monthly-rated permanent employee and that he has · been wrongly superseded. His ·claim to be treated as permanent employee was apparently not accepted bf the Tribu-nal (the Authority under ·section 15 of the Payment of Wages Act for Bombay). But it was held that the position of · the applicant · is not that of daiJy;rated casual labourer but that of · monthly"rated ·tempo-rary employee. His· claim: was treated · and upheld' ·by the Tribunal ·as one substantially based on. the gioun.d that . the Award of ·the Railway Workers' · Classifica-tion Tribunal ·in relation ·to the recominendaticiils of the Central Pay Commission was approved· ·by the Railway Board and ·directed to be · implemented, and that by virtue thereof he was: no longer mere castial labourer but was entitled to higher wages on the' foot-ing of monthly-rated labourer, No question ,arises that the order of the Tribu:na:l "is bad · owirig to the

,S.C.R; SUPREME 'coURT REPORTS

variation between the · cl:iim ·-made · and the relief _granted. As hdd by the High Court, pleadings in these cases have to- be liberally construed. That his claim was understood as having been based· on the Award of Railway Workers' · Classification Tribunal, ''by the Railway Authorities themselves, is clear from the statement filed on their behalf in answer to the -employee's claim. Apart from the question of juris-diction, the defence was two.fold. (1) The applicant being daily-rated casual labourer, charged to works, the directive of the Railway Board did not apply to him. (2) Even if it applied to person in the situa-tion of the applicant, he was not entitled to be brought •On to the monthly-rates of pay in the skilled grade, without his previously passing trade test to estab-lish himself as skilled in his trade and he did not pass the test. The Tribunal, on the material referred to by it in its order. came to the conclusion (1) that the applicant did Iiot fall within the category of work-charged staff, (2) that under the Award of the Rail-·way Workers' Classification Tribunal,· no trade test was necessary for the applicant who was carpenter, and (3) that as per certain instructions of the con-. ccrned authority, the period of casual labour was to -be limited to six months, and that since this applicant was admittedly Casual labourer under the Railway for much larger period, i.e. since 1941, he became entitled to be treated as temporary employee and not as casu'1,.l labourer and to receive wages as such. ·whether these conclusions are right or wrong is not ·the question before us. The only question is whether ·or not the Tribunal had the jurisdiction to find that the applicant was entitled to the emoluments of monthly-rated temporary employee and not to that ·of daily-rated casual labourer, as the result of the order of the Railwa7 Board directing implementation of the Award of the Classification Tribunal. The jurisdiction of the Tribunal arises under sec-·tion 15 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (Act IV -of 1936) (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The 'Tribunal is set up to decide "all claims arising out of ·deductions from ~he_ wages or delay . in payment . of

· A. V. D'Costa v. B. C, Patel and another Jagannadhadas J.

1366. SUPREME COURT REPORTS . \ .

1955 ·wages". Th~ relief which it is authorised to award is -to direct "the refund of the amount deducted, or the A. v. ~·eosia payment of the wages delayed". Such direction B. c. Patel \ made by the Tribunal is final, under section 17 of the and another · ' Act, subject to the right of appeal provided therein. Under section 22, no suit lies in any court for the re-JagannadhadasJ. covery of wages or of any deduction therefrom which could have been recovered by an application under section 15. However limited this jurisdiction of the Tribunal, and however elaborate. the provisions· in the Act for the preparation and display by the em-ployer of the table of wages payable to the employees, and for the inspection thereof by the Factory Inspec-tors, it cannot be supposed that the jurisdiction of the Tribunal is only to enforce the wages so displayed or otherwise admitted: Such narrow construction would rob the machinery of the Act of great deal of its utility and would confine its application to cases whiCh are not likely to· arise often, in well-ordered administration like the Railways. Indeed, I do not gather that such construction was pressed for, before us, in the arguments. · ·Even Tribunal of limited jurisdiction, like the one under consideration, must necessarily have ·.the jurisdiction to decide, for itself, the preliminary facts on which the claim or dispute before it depends. In the instant case, it ·must have jurisdiction to decide what the wages pay-· able are and, for that purpose, 'what the contract of employment and the terms thereof a:re. The judgment of my learned brothers in this case apparently re-cognises the jurisdiction of the Tribunal as above stated, when it said that the Tribunal has the power •"to find out what the ternis of the contract were to determine what the wages of the employed person. were". 'Vhether the Tribunal's decision in this be-half is conclusive or not is matter that does not arise for decision in this case.

But, it is said that the Tribunal bas no authority

to determine the question of "potential wages''. Undoubtedly claim to higher potential wage can-not be brought in under the category of "claim aris-ing out of deduction from the wages or delay in pay-

S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS ,, . -·-

. ' \ . . ,_ ment of the wages"iif that wage depended . on the 1955. determination by a'· superior. departmental or ether authority as to whether or not particular employee A. v. ~·costa is entitled to the higher wage-.:a determination which B. c. Pat.i involves the exercise of administrative judgment or a•a another discretion or certification, and which would, in such · -a situation, be condition of the payability of the JagannaahadasJ. wage.· ·But where the higher wage does not depend upon such determination but depends on the applica-tion of,· and· giving effect to, certain rules and orders which, for this purpose, must be deemed to be incor-porated in the contract of employment, such wage · is, in my view, not prospective wage, merely be-cause the paying authority concerned makes default or commits error in working out the application of the rules. · In this context it is relevant to notice that the definition of "wages" in the Act is "all remunera-tion which would if the terms of the contract, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable". The word "were" in this definition which I have underlined; Reems to indicate that even "prospective wage" which would be payable on the proper ·application of the rules in the sense which I ha:ve explained above may well fall within its scope. The. wage under the Act is not, necessarily, the immediately pre-existing wage but the presently-payable wage. . · · ·· In the case before us, the order of the Tribunal proceeded on the view that the applicant was present~­ly entitled to be treated as monthly-rated· tempo-. rary employee and not as daily-rated casual labourer, by virtue of the directions of the Railway Board for the· implementation of the scheme of classification and that therefore he was entitled to the appropriate higher wage. We have not been shown any material to indicate that this higher classification of the appli-·cant depended not on the mere application, of the classification scheme and the rules thereunder, to him but upon any determinll;tioii by departmental higher authority. If it was the latter, undoubtedly the Tribunal cannot claim to sit in judgment over that determination, whether it was ~ight or wrong. Such

A. V. D'Costa v. B. C. Patti and another jagannadhadas J.

B68 SUPREME COURT REPORTS

·determination, ··if. wrong, could , ·be -,corrected only • by further departmental appeal; ·if :any; available_, But the Tribunal had, to my mind,, the . authority. to find whether the applicant's .case falls within the : scope of determination by- the departmental. ·authority -or is one- of mere application of the. rules to the facts .. of this ·case. If the decision of the Tribunal in this be-half was wrong, the appropriate remedy for. the Rail-way Authority was by way of· an appeal under section 17 ·of the Act. Since . the finding _of the Tribunal in this case involved the case of as many ·as six· persons and the net additional amount ordered was sum of Rs. 1,341, its finding was appealable. under section 17 of the Act. Whether or not ·an employee, was en-titled to wages of higher- category than what he was till then drawing would depend entirdy on the scope of the rules with reference tci · which he is entitled to become one in the higher category and it . cannot be assumed priori that such claim · is claim to "prospective wages".

In my view, therefore, there is no sufficient reason to reverse· the judgment of the learned Judges of the Bombay High Court and this appeal should be dis-missed with .costs.

BY THE CouRT. In accordance with the decision of the majority, the appeal is allowed and the orders of the· Authority and of the.High Court are quashed. There will be no order as to costs throughout.

· Appeal allowed. '