TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1964 (2) TMI 73
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....Court was delivered by GAJENDRAGADKAR. C.J.-The short question which arises in these appeals by special leave is whether section 1(3) of the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (No. 34 of 1948) (hereinafter called the Act) is invalid. By their writ petitions filed before the Patna High Court, the appellants who are the workmen of the three respondent concerns, the Eagle Rolling Mills Ltd., the Kumardhubi Engineering Works Ltd., and Kumardhubi Fire Clay and Silica Works Ltd., respectively, alleged that the impugned section has contravened Art. 14 of the Constitution, and suffers from the vice of excessive delegation, and as such is invalid. These employers were impleaded as respondent No. 1 respectively in the three writ petitions. Th....
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....of the Act should come into force in certain areas of the State of Bihar. By this notification, the area in which the appellants are working came within the scope of the Act. In pursuance of the said notification, the Chief Executive Officer of respondent No. 1 informed the appellants on the 25th August, 1960 that the medical benefits including indoor and outdoor treatment upto the extent admissible under the Act will cease to be provided to insurable person-, from the appointed day. A notice in that behalf was duly issued and published by the said Officer. Similar notices were issued indicating to the appellants that medical benefits would thereafter be governed by the relevant provisions of the Act and not by the arrangements which had be....
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....ure thought it necessary to enforce in regard to such workmen have been specifically dealt with and appropriate provisions have been made to carry out the policy of the Act as laid down in its relevant sections. Section 3(1) of the Act purports to authorise the Central Government to establish a Corporation for the administration of the scheme of Employees' State Insurance by a notification. In other words, when the notification should be issued and in respect of what factories 'it should be issued, has been left to the discretion of the Central Government and that is precisely what is usually done, by conditional legislation. What Lord Selborne said about the powers conferred on the Lieutenant-Governor by virtue of the relevant provis....
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....d", "employee", "factory", "injured person ", "sickness", "wages" and other terms contained in s. 2 give a clear 'idea as to the nature of the factories to which the Act is intended to be applied, the class of persons for whose benefit it has' been passed and the nature of the benefit which is intended to be conferred on them. Chapter II of the Act deals with the Corporation, Standing Committee and Medical Benefit Council and their constitution; Chapter III deals with the problem of finance and audit; Chapter IV makes provisions for contribution both by the employees and the employer, and Chapter V prescribes the benefits which have to be conferred on the workmen; it also gives general provisions in respect of those benefits. Chapter V-A de....
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....orate provisions in respect of it and leaves it to the Government concerned to decide when, how and in what manner the scheme should be introduced. That, in our opinion, cannot amount to excessive delegation. The question of excessive delegation has been frequently considered by this Court and the approach to be adopted in dealing with it is no longer in doubt. In the Edward Mills Co. Ltd., Beawar and Others v. The State of Ajmer and Another [1955] 1 S.C.R. 735., this Court repelled the challenge to the validity of s. 27 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (No. XI of 1948), whereby power had been given to the appropriate Government to add to either part of the schedule any employment in respect of which it was of opinion that minimum wages sh....
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...., the medical benefits which were being given to them in the past would be received by then under the relevant provisions of the Act. It was urged by the appellants before the High Court that these notices were invalid and should be struck down. The argument which was urged in support of this contention was that respondent No. 1 in all the three appeals were not entitled to curtail the benefits provided to the appellants by them and that the said benefits were not similar either qualitatively or quantitatively to the benefits under the Scheme which had been brought into force under the Act. The High Court has held that the question as to whether the notices and circulars issued by respondent No. 1 were invalid, could not be considered under....