Statutory subsistence allowance cannot be denied by a daily attendance condition or customary practice during suspension.

A statutory right to subsistence allowance during suspension under Section 10A of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 cannot be curtailed by an employer-imposed daily attendance-marking condition at the factory gate. The only relevant statutory test is whether the suspended workman was gainfully employed elsewhere during the suspension period. A customary practice or suspension stipulation cannot override that statutory entitlement, and the Labour Court erred in treating the attendance condition as lawful. The workman was entitled to subsistence allowance for the suspension period, with interest.

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Issues: Whether a suspended workman's entitlement to subsistence allowance under Section 10A of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 can be made subject to a daily attendance-marking condition at the factory gate, and whether a customary practice or suspension stipulation can curtail that statutory entitlement.

Analysis: Section 10A creates a beneficial statutory regime governing payment of subsistence allowance during suspension. The only relevant statutory requirement is that the workman should not be gainfully employed elsewhere during the suspension period. A condition imposed by the employer in the suspension order requiring daily reporting and marking of attendance at the factory gate was held to have no support in the statute, standing orders, or any other enforceable legal provision. The Court held that a customary practice followed by the establishment cannot override a statutory benefit, and that the Labour Court had wrongly treated the attendance condition as lawful and consonant with Section 10A.

Conclusion: The suspended workman was entitled to subsistence allowance from the date of suspension till termination, and the attendance-marking condition could not lawfully be used to deny that entitlement.

Final Conclusion: The impugned award was set aside and the employer was directed to pay subsistence allowance with interest for the suspension period.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory right to subsistence allowance under Section 10A of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 cannot be curtailed by an employer-imposed daily attendance condition or by an asserted customary practice; the relevant consideration is only whether the suspended workman was gainfully employed elsewhere.

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