1989 (11) TMI 329

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....vernment in the light of criteria laid down in the Act and also regulating the service conditions of contract labour where abolition is not possible. Section 10 of the Act which is relevant is as under : Prohibition of employment of contract labour : (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the appropriate Government may, after consultation with the Central Board or, as the case may be, a State Board prohibit, by notification in the Official Gazette, employment of contract labour in any process, operation or other work in any establishment. (2) Before issuing any notification under Sub-section (1) in relation to an establishment, the appropriate Government shall have regard to the conditions of work and....

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....oading of bricks from wagons and trucks. 3. It is thus obvious that the job of loading and unloading of bricks from wagons and trucks in the Brick Department has been specifically excluded from the beneficial purview of the notification. The said action of the State Government has been challenged in this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India by the affected workmen on the ground that the petitioners have been subjected to hostile discrimination so much so that the workmen doing the same job in other departments and allied jobs in the same department have been rescued from the archaic system of contract labour whereas the petitioners have been singled-out and left to be grinded under the pernicious effect of this pri....

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....vice to the workmen and their wages are far below than that of the regular workmen of the company. this Court in Standard-Vacuum Refining Co. of India Ltd. v. its workmen (1960)IILLJ238SC and Catering cleaners of Southern Railway (1987)ILLJ345SC has disapproved the system of contract labour holding it to be 'archaic', 'primitive' and of 'baneful nature'. The system, which is nothing but an improved version of bonded-labour, is sought to be abolished by the Act. The Act is an important piece of social legislation for the welfare of labourers and has to be liberally construed. 7. It is not denied that the bricks handled by the Brick Department are used in furnaces of the company as refractory. Therefore the work don....

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....ion. These bricks are also imported from outside India. Such bricks are manufactured indigenously too, but depending upon the consumption and demand, the bricks are purchased locally and/or imported from outside India. Such a costly material has to be handled by skilled workmen. The job of loading and unloading of such bricks and their stacking is done by skilled workmen and this work cannot be done by casual labour which may be engaged or disengaged as contract labour depending upon the sweet will of the management. It is submitted that loading and unloading and stacking of bricks are jobs which are supplementary to each other carried out by the same set of workmen and is essential for the day today production. The petitioners submit that ....