Indian Cable Company Ltd. And Anr. vs Union Of India And Ors.
1992 Latest Caselaw 82 Del

JUDGMENT

S.B. Wad, J.

(1) The question raised in this writ petition is whether the40 employees engaged in the commercial establishment of Delhi who sell the product of principal factory at Jamshedpure, are covered by Employees State Insurance Act. It is an admitted facts that the principal manufacturing factory of the petitioner is at Jamshedpure and the bulk of the employeesnumbering about 3,000 are working there. The petitioners have commercial establishments in other cities including Pune and Calcutta After 1978, the petitioner-company has made the Employees State Insurance Act applicable to all its manufacturing or commercial establishments. The dispute is, therefore only limited to a period between 1968 to 1978. Following the decision of Supreme Court in Hyderabad Asbestos Cement Products Ltd. v. Employees Insurance Court and Anr., 1978 L.I.C. 307, it is clear that the employees of the petitioner outside Bihar are also to be treated as employees of the principal factory at Jamshedpure, Bihar. In The Tata Oil Mills Ltd., Ernakulam v.The Employees State Insurance- Corporation, 1978 L.I.C. 585, the Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that employees are to be treated as employees of a factory to which they are principally connected in their activities. Following these two decisions, the employees working at Delhi are to be treated as employees of the Jamshedpur factory for the purposes of the presentenactment. It is an admitted fact that neither the State of Bihar nor the Central Government has extended the application of the said Act to Jamshedpur factory pursuant to Section 1(3) and (5) of the Act and the employees atJamshedpure factory which forms the bulk of the total establishment are not covered by the Employees State Insurance Act.

(2) We, therefore, hold that the Employees at Delhi are not covered by the Employees' State Insurances Act. Consequently, the demand notices between 1968 to 1978 with regard to Delhi employees are hereby quashed.

(3) The Rule is made absolute. The writ petition is allowed withcosts. Counsel's fee Rs. 1.000.00.