Standing Orders coverage for employees upheld, and termination was valid under the applicable service rule.

Company Standing Orders framed under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 were held to cover all persons employed in the specified departments, not only those issued tickets. References to names and ticket numbers in the muster were treated as conditional on tickets existing, not as a precondition to employee status. The distinction between "employees" and "workmen" showed that every employee was not necessarily a workman, but the respondent still fell within the covered employee class. On that basis, the employer could act under Standing Order 16(1), and no separate misconduct penalty under Standing Order 18 was required. The termination was therefore valid.

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Issues: Whether the Standing Orders of the company applied to the respondent and, if they did, whether the termination of his service in accordance with those Standing Orders was valid.

Analysis: The Standing Orders were framed and approved under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and the local industrial disputes settlement law. The definition of "employees" in the Standing Orders, read in the context of the whole scheme, was held to include all persons employed in the specified departments of the company, not merely those to whom tickets had been issued. The words referring to names and ticket numbers in the departmental muster were treated as applicable only where tickets existed, and not as a condition precedent to employee status. The distinction drawn in the Standing Orders between "employees" and "workmen" showed that every employee was not necessarily a workman. Since the respondent was within the class of employees covered by the Standing Orders, the employer was entitled to act under Standing Order 16(1), and no separate misconduct penalty under Standing Order 18 was attracted.

Conclusion: The Standing Orders applied to the respondent and the termination of his service was valid under Standing Order 16(1).

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