Employer supervision and control determine workman status; piece-rate payment and assistants do not negate a contract of service.

The controlling test for identifying a workman under section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act is whether the employer has the right to supervise and control not only what work is done but also how it is done. A person does not cease to be a workman merely because payment is by the job or because assistants are engaged, if personal service is undertaken and the work remains under employer supervision. Applying that test, the agarias in the salt works were found to work personally on allotted pattas under continuous supervision and control, so the relationship was held to be one of service rather than independent contracting.

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Issues: Whether the agarias working in the Salt Works were "workmen" within the meaning of section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Analysis: The definition of "workman" requires employment in the industry under a relationship of employer and employee or master and servant. The governing test is whether the employer has the right to supervise and control not merely what work is to be done but also the manner in which it is to be done, though the degree of control varies with the nature of the work. A person does not cease to be a workman merely because he is paid by the job rather than by time, or because he engages assistants, if he has bound himself to render personal service and the work remains under the employer's supervision and control. On the facts, the agarias worked personally on allotted pattas, the employer exercised supervision throughout the process of salt manufacture, and the arrangement did not show a true independent contracting relationship.

Conclusion: The agarias were workmen within section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and the finding to that effect was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: The existence of a contract of service depends primarily on the employer's right of supervision and control over the manner of work, and a worker does not become an independent contractor merely because the work is piece-rate or assisted by others, if personal service and employer control are established.

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