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Petitioner: MULTAN ELECTRIC SUPPLY COMPANY LTD., MULTAN VS Respondent: NIAZ AHMAD NIAZI
1978 P L C 268
1978 P L C 268
[IVth Labour Court Punjab]
MULTAN ELECTRIC SUPPLY COMPANY LTD., MULTAN
Versus
NIAZ AHMAD NIAZI AND 19 OTHERS
Appeal No. 19 of 1974, decided on 11th October 1975.
Industrial Relations Ordinance (XXIII of 1969)----
‑‑ S. 50 read with Payment of Wages Act (IV of 1936) and Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act (LIII of 1952)‑Interpretation of settlement‑Authority under Payment of Wages Act not competent to determine interpretation of terms of settlement regarding regulation of wages‑Jurisdiction to hear such petitions in respect of establishments declared as essential services vests in National Industrial Relations Commission.
Abdul Rashid, Asstt. Labour Officer for Appellant.
Mehmood Nawaz Babar for Respondent.
DECISION
An appeal has been filed on behalf of the Multan Electric Supply Company, Limited, Multan, hereinafter referred to as appellant Company, against the award dated 3rd August. 1974 given by the learned Authority under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, whereby, the respondents workmen, twenty in number, were directed to be paid special relief of Rs. 20 per month from 1st August, 1972, to 1st February, 1974, in view of the settlement between the appellant‑Company and the C. B. A. Employees' Union entered on 18th September 1972.
It has been contended on behalf of the appellant. Company that accord ing to the relevant clause of the settlement the special relief of Rs. 20 per month was not to be paid to the staff who were already granted Rs. 25 per month in the beginning of 1972, and on that score the respondent could not be allowed the said additional relief as they were enjoying the benefit of the previous relief Rs. 25 per month. It was further maintained that the relief claimed by the respondents involved a question of interpretation of the relevant settlement clause for which this Court or the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act, has not jurisdiction. Beside that Multan Electric Supply Company, having been declared an essential Service under the Pakistan Essential Service (Maintenance) Act, 1952, Labour Courts have no jurisdic tion in the present dispute nor the authority under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, has the authority to go into the dispute.
Without going into the merits of the case it is clear that the present dispute, relates to the interpretation of the relevant clause of settlement executed on 18th September, 1972, between the appellant‑Company and the C. B. A. Union wherein the respondents were not directly a party. The relevant clause of the settlement reads as follows:
"It has been mutually agreed that the employees who are getting monthly salary from Rs. 130 per month to 350 per month will be given Rs. 20 per month w. e. f. 1st August, 1972, as special relief. This does not include the staff who were granted special pay of Rs. 25 per month in the beginning of 1972. The special relief will not be discounted at any stage. If at any time Government gives additional benefits to workers in any form, those will be in addition to the benefits being granted under the agreement"
According to the respondents the only staff excluded from the benefit of the special relief of Rs. 20 per month iii the one who was granted special pay of Rs. 25 in the beginning of 1972, and therefore such of the respondents who were granted the said special pay in the month of November, 1972, could not be regarded as excluded from the benefits of the additional special relief of Rs. 20 per month. It was further contended that the appellant Company committed itself to have merged the special pay of Rs. 25 in the substantive remunerations of the respondents and as such it could no longer be regarded as special pay over and above the substantive remuneration and for that matter the special relief of Rs. 20 could not be denied to the respondents under relevant clause of the settlements.
Obviously the contentions of the parties given above call for the interpre tation of the relevant terms of a settlement for which ordinarily the Punjab Labour Appellate Tribunal, has been vested with the jurisdiction to dissolve the dispute under section 50 of the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969. The Authority under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, has jurisdiction only in regard to the regulation of the payment of ascertained wages undo: the Payment of Wages Act. The Wages Act does not confer any jurisdiction on the authority to determine the wages substantively or to determine the principle under which the wages was to the regulated by the competent authority much less to determine the interpretation of the terms of any settle ment between the Management and its workers. In the present case the dispute could be taken to the Punjab Labour Appellate Tribunal, prior to the appellant Management having been declared an Essential Service alongwith the amendments in the Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Rules, 1962, where under National Industrial Relations Commission have been vested with the jurisdiction to hear the petition for determining the petitioners' wages. The impugned award being therefore set aside for want of jurisdiction with the learned Authority below, the appeal is accepted and the petitioners directed to move in the proper forum according to law.