# [1964] 3 S.C.R. 100

- **Citation:** [1964] 3 S.C.R. 100
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1961-03-10
- **Bench:** P . .H. Gajendragadkar, K. N. Wanchou, K. C. Das Gupta
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/1964-3-s-c-r-100-2867
- **Pages:** 16

## Headnote

Industrial Di;p,,t<-" Working journalist'' -Constr,,ctionTest• prescribed-Part time employee satisfies the test prescribed
if, can be excluded from the purview of the section-" Avocation,"
Meaning of-Working Journalist• Ind·ustrial Disputes Act,
1955 (1of1955), s. 2 (b).
The respondent's services as a correspondent at Guntur
under the appellant were terminated. The Andhra Union of
Working Journalists, Elluru, took up the respondent's cause
and alleged that his services
had been terminated by the
appellant without any justification and that as a working
journalist, he was entitled to reinstat~men t and compensation.
The dispute was referred to the Labour Court, Guntur, by the
Government of Andhra Pradesh. The appellant raised preliminary objections before the Labour Court, which were all
rejected. On the merits, the appellant contended that the
avocation of a moffusil correspondent was not the respondent's
principal avocation, and so, he could not claim the benefit
of the status of a working journalist under s. 2 (b) of the Act.
The Labour Court decided the matter against the respondent
solely on the ground that as a part time worker he could not be
regarded as a working journalist, and it made no finding on
the question as to whether his principal avocation at the time
when his services were terminated could be said to satisfy the
te•t prescribed by the definition under s. 2 (b) of the Act. The
award was challenged by the respondent by a writ petition
before the High Court of l\ndhra Pradesh. The High \'..ourt
held that the respondent was a working journalist under s. 2 (b)
of the Act and so it set aside the award. On appeal by certificate the appellant's
principal contention in this Court was
that the High Court was in error in holding that the respondent was a working journalist under s. 2 (b)_of the Act.
He«J that whenever an employee working in a newspaper
~stablishment claims the status of a working j ournaliat,
••
..
•
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 101
he has to establish first that he is a journalist, and then
that journaliim is his principal
avocation and .he has
been employed as such journalist.
In proving the fact that he
is a journalist, the employees specified in the latter clause of
s. 2 (b) of the Act need not prove anything more than this that
they fall under one or the other category specified in the said
clause.
But that only proves th•ir status as journalin; they
have still further to show that their principal avocation is that
of a journalist and that they have been employed as such by
thP newspaper establishment in question.
The object of the artificial extent ion made by the including clause is not to dispense with the two main conditions
prescribed hy the definition !"fore a journalist can be regarded
as a working journalist.
Having regard to the CJntext of s. 2 (L) it would be
inappropriate to adopt the dictionary or the etyJTlological
meaning of the \Vord "avocatirin" in construing s 2 (h) of
the Act.
Held further that normally employment contemplated by
s. 2 (b) would be full time employment but part·time employment is not excluded from s. 2 (b) either. On a fair construction of s. 2 (b), it would be impo<Sib!e to hold that a part
time employee who satisfies the test prescribed by s. 2 (b)
can be excluded from its purvie\v mert"ly hecause his employment is pa1 t time.
In the present case,
the onus to prove the issue as to
whether the work of a
corrr~rondent was his principa' J.vocation at the relevant time in the light of the relevant facts. as
well as, the issue as to whethei he was in the exclusive employment of the appellant lies on
the respondent and it is only if
he establishes the fact that he is a working journalist, the
question as to determining the relief to which he is entitled
may arise.
CIVIL Arr1;LLATE jURJSDIC'fION: Civil Appeal
No. ~02 of l:!ii2.
Appeal from the judgment and order dated
March 10, 1961, of the Andhra Pradesh High Court
in Writ Petition No. 1\77 of 1958.
A. V. Viswannth

## Text

1963
bril 18
ioo
SUPREME cobRT REPORTS [I9tl4] voi.
THE MANAGEMENT OF EXPRESS
NEWSPAPERS LTD.
v .
.H. so:MAYAJULU AND OTHEKS
(P . .H. GAJENDRAGADKAR, K. N. WANCHOU,
and K. C. DAS GUPTA JJ.)
Industrial Di;p,,t<-" Working journalist'' -Constr,,ctionTest• prescribed-Part time employee satisfies the test prescribed
if, can be excluded from the purview of the section-" Avocation,"
Meaning of-Working Journalist• Ind·ustrial Disputes Act,
1955 (1of1955), s. 2 (b).
The respondent's services as a correspondent at Guntur
under the appellant were terminated. The Andhra Union of
Working Journalists, Elluru, took up the respondent's cause
and alleged that his services
had been terminated by the
appellant without any justification and that as a working
journalist, he was entitled to reinstat~men t and compensation.
The dispute was referred to the Labour Court, Guntur, by the
Government of Andhra Pradesh. The appellant raised preliminary objections before the Labour Court, which were all
rejected. On the merits, the appellant contended that the
avocation of a moffusil correspondent was not the respondent's
principal avocation, and so, he could not claim the benefit
of the status of a working journalist under s. 2 (b) of the Act.
The Labour Court decided the matter against the respondent
solely on the ground that as a part time worker he could not be
regarded as a working journalist, and it made no finding on
the question as to whether his principal avocation at the time
when his services were terminated could be said to satisfy the
te•t prescribed by the definition under s. 2 (b) of the Act. The
award was challenged by the respondent by a writ petition
before the High Court of l\ndhra Pradesh. The High \'..ourt
held that the respondent was a working journalist under s. 2 (b)
of the Act and so it set aside the award. On appeal by certificate the appellant's
principal contention in this Court was
that the High Court was in error in holding that the respondent was a working journalist under s. 2 (b)_of the Act.
He«J that whenever an employee working in a newspaper
~stablishment claims the status of a working j ournaliat,
••
..
•
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 101
he has to establish first that he is a journalist, and then
that journaliim is his principal
avocation and .he has
been employed as such journalist.
In proving the fact that he
is a journalist, the employees specified in the latter clause of
s. 2 (b) of the Act need not prove anything more than this that
they fall under one or the other category specified in the said
clause.
But that only proves th•ir status as journalin; they
have still further to show that their principal avocation is that
of a journalist and that they have been employed as such by
thP newspaper establishment in question.
The object of the artificial extent ion made by the including clause is not to dispense with the two main conditions
prescribed hy the definition !"fore a journalist can be regarded
as a working journalist.
Having regard to the CJntext of s. 2 (L) it would be
inappropriate to adopt the dictionary or the etyJTlological
meaning of the \Vord "avocatirin" in construing s 2 (h) of
the Act.
Held further that normally employment contemplated by
s. 2 (b) would be full time employment but part·time employment is not excluded from s. 2 (b) either. On a fair construction of s. 2 (b), it would be impo<Sib!e to hold that a part
time employee who satisfies the test prescribed by s. 2 (b)
can be excluded from its purvie\v mert"ly hecause his employment is pa1 t time.
In the present case,
the onus to prove the issue as to
whether the work of a
corrr~rondent was his principa' J.vocation at the relevant time in the light of the relevant facts. as
well as, the issue as to whethei he was in the exclusive employment of the appellant lies on
the respondent and it is only if
he establishes the fact that he is a working journalist, the
question as to determining the relief to which he is entitled
may arise.
CIVIL Arr1;LLATE jURJSDIC'fION: Civil Appeal
No. ~02 of l:!ii2.
Appeal from the judgment and order dated
March 10, 1961, of the Andhra Pradesh High Court
in Writ Petition No. 1\77 of 1958.
A. V. Viswanntha Sastri, ·Jayaram and R.
Ganpathi Iyer, for the appellanL
'
;
196S
M•,,.JllMltoj
Exptm N1wsp11J>1rs
Lid.
••
B. s~m•yajul,,
102 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1964) VOL.
1963
V. K. Krishna Jlenon, M. K. Ramamurthi,
M'nagement of . R. K. Garg, S. O. Agarwal and D. P. Singh, for the
Eoxpress NewsP•/Mfs
respondent No. I.
Ltd.
v.
IJ. Somli>•iulu
K. R. Chaudhuri and P. D. Menon, for respondent No. 2
1963. April 18.
The; Judgment of the Court
was delivered by
Gqimd•agadlra• J.
GAJENDRA.GA.DKA.R J.-The principal question
which arises in this appeal is whether the respondent
B. Somayajulu is a working journalist under s. 2(b)
of
the Working Journalists Industrial Disputes
Act 1955, (No. 1 of 1955) (hereinafter called 'the
Act').
That question arises in this way.
On
February 19, 1935, the respondent was appoiuted a
Correspondent at Guntur by the appellant, the
management of the Express Newspapers
Ltd.
He did that work
continuously
until
Octo·
ber, 20, 1955 on which date his services were terminated. The Andhra Union of Working Journalists,
Elluru, then took up the respondent's cause and
alleged that his services had been terminated by the
appellant without any justification and that as a
working journalist, he was entitled to reinstatement
and compensation for the period during which he
was not allowed to work by the appellant in consequence of the order passed by the appellant terminal·
· ing his services. This dispute was referred by the
Government of Andhra Pradesh for adjudication to
the Labour Court, Guntur. The question referred
for adjudication was whether the termination of
services of Mr. B. Somayajulu, Correspondent of
Indian Express Newspapers at Guntur was justified?
If not, to what relief was he entitled? Before the
Labour Court, the respondent claimed that in addition to reinstatemept, compensation should be awarded to him from October 13, 1955 to May
1,
1956 at Rs. 75/-per mensem an<;! thereafter up to the
•
....
.. _ .. --.
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
103
date of reinstatemrnt at the rate prescribed by the
Wage Board for Working .Journalists under the provisions of the Act.
The appellant disputed this claim on several
grounds. It urged that the Labour Court had no
jurisdiction to entertain the reference, because the
appointment of the respondent had been made at
Madras, the money due to him was sent from
Madras, and so, the appropriate Government which
could have made the reference was the Madras
Government and not the Government of Andhra
Pradesh. This argument has been rejected by the
Labour Court. It was also urged that the reference was
invalid since the order of reference in terms did not
refer to section 10 ( l) (c) of the Industrial Disputes
Act under which the power to refer had been exercised. The Labour Court repelled this contention as
well.
Then it was alleged that the dispute referred
to the Labour Court for its adjudication was an individual dispute and had not been properly sprmsored by
any Union. The Labour Court was not impressed
even by this plea. That is how the preliminary
objections raised by the appellant were all rejected.
On the merits, the appellant urged that the
respondent was not a working journalist under s. 2(b)
of the Act.
In support of this plea the appellant
averred that the respondent was a part-time correspondent unattached to any particular newspaper
establishment that a year or so later he was appointed as a selling agent of the publications of the
appellant, such as the Express Newsp >pcrs,
Dinamani and Andhra Pradesh_ at Guntur which assignment was given to him on his depositing Rs. 6,000/-
which was later raised to Rs. 7,000/-.
According to
the appellant, as such selling agent, the respondent
was making on an average about Rs. 1,500/- per
mensem as commission, whereas, as a correspondent
he was first paid on lineage basis and later an honorarium was fixed at Rs. 50/- which was subsequently
J96S
Ma11af6Tlllnl of
Express Ntwspop1rs
Ltd.
v.
B • .:omay1julu
GD.j1ndragadkai J.
Mlfl.a.tdrntnt of
Ex'firus Nawspapns
Lid.
••
B. SilmaytJjulu
G'•je.ni.ftttadkar I.
104 SUPREN:IE COURT REPORTS [1964] VOL.
raised to Rs. 75/- p.m. This latter amount was paial
to him until his services were terminated.
The
appellant, therefore, contended that the avocation
(If a moffusil correspondent was not the respondent's
principal avocation, and so, he could not claim the
benefit of the status of a working journalist under
s. 2(b) of the Act.
The Labour Court took the view that parttime workers were outside the purview of the Act.
It also referred incidentally to the commission which
the respondent received as a selling agent and made
some observations to the effect that the payment to
the respondent for his work as a correspondent was
very much less than the commission which he received from the appellant as its selling agent. It is
::ommon ground that some time before the respondent's services as a correspondent · were terminated,
l1is selling agency had also come to an end.
From
the award made by the Labour Court, it is clear that
the Labour Court decided the matter against the
respondent solely on the ground that as a part-time
worker he could not be regarded as a working
journalist, and it made no finding on the question
as to whether his principal avocation at the time when
his services wt>re terminated could be said to satisfy
the test prescribed by the definition under s. 2(b).
The award made by the Labour Court was
challenged by the respondent before the Andhra Pradesh High Court by a writ petition under Articles 226
and 227 of the Constitution. The High Court has
held that the respondent is a working journalist under
s. 2 (b) and so, it has set aside the award passed by
the Labour Court. There is no specific direction issued by the High Court remanding the proceedings
between the parties to the Labour Court for disposal
on the me:rits in accordance with law, but that clearly
is the effect of the order. It is against this decision
lhat the appellant has come to this Court wjth ii
,....
3 S.C.R. · SUPREME COURT REPORTS 105
certificate issued by the said High Court; and on
behalf of the appellant, the principal contention
raised by Mr. Sastri is that the High Court was in
error in holding that the respondent was a working
journalist under s. 2(b).
~ -
_,
......
The Act which applied lo the proceedings
between the parties was the Act No. I of 1955. This
Act came into force on March 12, 1955. It consists
of only 3
sections.
Section 1 gave the title of
the Act ; s. 2 defined 'newspaper' and 'working journalist'
by clauses (a) and (bj ; and s. 3 made a
general provision that the provisions of the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947 applied to, or in relation to,
working journalists as they applied to, or in relation
to workmen within the meaning of that Act. In
other words, the scheme of the Act was to define
new~paper and working journalist and to make the
provisions of the Indu5trial Disputes Act applicable
to working jo'urnalists.
This Act was followed by the working Journalists (Condition of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (No. 45 of 1955). This Act consists
of 21 sections and makes some specific provisions
applicable to working journalists, different from the
relevant provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act.
Section 2 ( f) of this Act defines a working journalist.
The definition prescribed by s. 2 (f) of this
Act is identical with the definition prescribed by
s. 2 (b) of the earlier Act, and so, for the purposes
of the present appeal, whatever we say about the
scope and effect of the definition of s. 2 (b) in the
earlier Act will apply to the definition prescribed by
s. 2 (f) of the latter Act. Section 3 of this latter
Act makes the provisions of the Industrial Disputes
Act, 1947, applicable to working journalists. Sections 4 and 5 make special provisions in respect of
retrenchment and gratuity. Section 6 prescribes the
)lours of work; s. 7 deals with problem of
le~v~
/ff!
M«n1geme.nt of
Exp11ss N1wspap1rs
Lid.
v.
B. Samayaj"lu
G•j~"'ir(Jt•«k•r /,
Management of
E1'PrlSS Ne~spaprrs
Ltd.
v.
B. Somayajulu
GajendratMkar J,
106 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1964] VOL. 1
s. 8 provides for the constitution of a Wage Board;
s. 9 deals with the fixation of wages; s. 10 requires
the publication of the decision of the Board and its
commencement, while s. 11 deals with the powers
and procedure of the Board. Section 12 makes the
decision of the Board binding and s. 13 gives power
to the ·Government to fix interim rates of wages.
These
provisions are contained in
Chapter II.
Chapter III consists of2 sections 14 and 15 and they
make applicable to the newspaper employees· the
provisions of the Industrial Employment (Standing
Orders) Act; 1946 and the Employees'
Provident
Funds Act, 1952.
Chapter IV contains miscellaneous prov!Slons,
such
as those relating to the
recovery of money due from an employer under s. 17,
penalty under s.
18 and indemnity under s. 19.
Section
20 confers the rule-making power on the
Central Government, and s. 21 repeals the earlier
Act.
In dealing with the question as to whether the
respondent can be said to be a working journalist,
it is necessary to read the definition prescribed by
s. 2 (b) of the Act:
"'Working journalist' means a person whose
principal avocation is that of a journalist and
who is employed as such in, or in relation to,
any establishment for the production or publication of a newspaper or in, or in relation to, any
news agency or syndicate supplying material
for publication in any newspaper, and includes
an editor, a leader-writer, newseditor, subeditor, feature-writer, copy-tester,
reporter,
correspondent, cartoonist, newsphotographer
, and proof-reader, but does not include any such
person who-
(i) is employed mainly in a managerial or
administrative capacity, or
..
·t
•
3 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT REPORTS
107
(ii) being employed in a supervisory capacity,
exercises, either by the nature of the
duties attached to the office or by reason
of the powers vested in him, functions
mainly of a managerial nature."
It is plain that the definition prescribed by s. 2 (b)
consists of two parts; the first part provides what a
working journalist means, and the second part brings
within its purview by an artificial extension certain
specified categories of newspaper employees.
It
would be noticed that the· first part provides for two
conditions which must be satisfied by a journalist
before he can be held to be a working journalist.
The first condition is that he must be a journalist
whose principal avocation is that of a journalist, and
the second condition is that he must be employed as
such in, or in relation to, any establishment as there
specifi~d. The first question which arises for our
decision is whether the two conditions thus prescribed
by the first part of the definition govern the categories of newspaper employees included in the definition
by the artificial extention made by the including
clause. The High Court has taken the view that
the categories of employees who are included in the
definition by name, need not satisfy the two conditions prescribed by the first part. The argument is
that since a correspondent, for instance, has been
named in the second clause, the whole object of the
legislature was to make him a working journalist
without requiring bim to satisfy the two conditions
prescribed
by the first part. In our opinion, this
construction is plainly erroneous.
The object of the
second clause was to make it clear that the employees
specified in that clause are journalists and nothing
more.
The word "journalist" has not been defined
in the Act and the legislature seems to have thought
that disputes may arise as to whether a particular
newspaper employee was a journalist or not.
There
can, of course, be no difficulty about an editor or
1963
MR11ag1m11Jt of
Exp,,ss N1wsp1Jturs
Ltd.
••
B. j'qmayajulu
Gajendra1a'dkar J.
1963
Management of
E~press Newspapers
Ltd. ..
B. Somayajulu
108
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1964] VOL.
a leader-writer, or a news editor or a sub-editor being
regarded as a journalist; but it was apparently apprehended that a difficulty may arise, for instance, in
the case of a correspondent, a proof reader, a cartoonist; a reporter, a copy-tester, or a feature writer, and
so, the legislature took the precaution of providing
specifically that the employees enumerated in the
latter clause are to be regarded as journalists for the
purpose of the definition prescribed bys. 2 (b ). The
object of the artificial extension made by the
including clause is not to dispense with the two main
conditions prescribed by the definition before a journalist can be regarded as a working journalist. There
can be no doubt that even the employees falling
under the extended meaning must be employed as
such. It is thus obvious that the second requirement prescribed by the first clause that the journalist must be .employed as such in, or in relation to,
any establishment for the production or publicaiion
of a newspaper, as therein specified, has to be satisfied by the employees falling under the latt<;r clause,
because unless there was an employment by the
newspaper establishment, no relationship of employer and employee can arise, and the journalists
specified in the latter clause could not, therefore,
claim the status of working journalist qua the employer who manages the journal in question.
Once
it is realised that the test of employment must govern
the employees specified in the latter clause, it would
become clear that the High Court was in error in
assuming that the extended artificial definition of
the working journalist dispensed with both the
conditions prescribed by the first part of th~ said
definition.
That is why we think the extension was
made by the word "includes" only for the purpose
of removing any doubt as to whether the persons
specified in the said clause arc journalists or not.
What is true about the condition as to employment
is equally true about the other condition that a journalist can be a working journalist only where it is
' .
.
.
.
.
•
--.......
3 S.C.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
109
shown that journalism is his principal avocation. In
other words, the position is that whenever an employee
working in the newspaper establishment
claims the status of a working journalist he has to
establish first that he is a journalist, and then that
journalism is his principal avocation and he has
been employed as such journalist. In proving the
fact that he is a journalist, the employees specified
in the latter clause need not prove anything more
than this that they fall under one or the other category specified in the said clause. But that only
prove3 their status as journalist; they have still
further to show that their principal avocation is that
of a journalist and that they have been employed as
such by the newspaper establishment in question.
That takes us to the question as to what is
meant by avocation? The High Court thought that
the dictionary meaning of the word "avocation"
which showed that it meant "a distraction or diversion from one's regular employment", could be
adopted in the context of s. 2 (b). In support of
this view, the High Court has cited a passage from
Fowler in
~fodern English Usage.
Fowler says
"Avocation originally a calling away, an interruption, a distraction, was for some time commonly
used as a synonym for vocation or calling, with
which it is properly in antithesis. This misuse is
now less common, and the word is generally used in
the plural, a person's avocations being the things he
devotes time to, his persuits or engagements in gene·
ral, the affairs he has to see to; his vocation as such
is neither excluded from, nor necessarily included in,
his avocation." Applying this dictionary meaning
of the word "avocation" the High Court has held
that even if the respondent has to satisfy the first
condition p. escribed by the first part of s. 2 ( b), it
can be held that he satisfied the said test, because
the work of a correspondent in his case can be safely
said to be his principal avocation in the sense or
1963
Managan.1nt of
Expr1s1 N1wspaperJ
lid,
••
B, -so111ayajulu
Ga]1•dr1111adkar J.
l'vl6r,.geme11t uf
Bxpre.s /V-ew~paperJ
ltd.
v.
ii. s .... ,a;utu
Gaj1nircpd~r J.
110 SUPREME cotJRt REPO.Rts [1964] vat.
.... ,
distraction or diversion from his regular employment.
In our opinion, in applying mechanically the dic1ionary meaning of the word "avocation" without
due regard to the context of s. 2 (b) the High Court
has adopted a somewhat pedantic approach. One
has merely to read the definition to realise the word
"avocation" used in s. 2 (b) cannot possibly mean
a distraction or diversion from one's regular employment.
On the contrary, it plainly means one's
vocation, calling or profession. The plain idea
underlying s. 2 (b) is that if a person is doing the
work, say of a correspondent, and at the same time
is pursuing some other calling or profession, say that
of a lawyer, it is only where his calling as a journalist can be said to be his principal calling that the
status of a working journalist can be assigned to him.
That being the plain object of s. 2 (b), it would,
we think, be, on the whole, inappropriate to adopt
the dictionary or the etymological meaning of the
word "avocation" in construing s. 2 (b).
We ought
to add that Mr. Menon who appeared for the respondent did not attempt to support the approach
adopted by the High Court in dealing with this
point.
Therefore, when
a question arises as to ·
whether a journalist can be said to be a working
journalist, it has to be shown that journalism of
whatever kind contemplated by s. 2 (b) is the principal avocation of the person claiming the status of
a working
journalist and that naturally would
involve an enquiry as to the gains made by him by
pursuing the career of a journalist as compared with
the
gains made by him by the pursuit of other
callings or professions. It is obvious that this test
will be merely academic and of no significance in
the case of full
time journalists, because in such
cases the obvious presumption would be that their
full time employment is their principal avocation
a11d no question of comparing their income from
journalism with income from other sources can arise.
In fact, the status of such full time journalists as
...
•
-
: ,. . ..,.
a s.c.R.
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 111
working journalists will not be affected even if in
some cases the income received by them from such
employment may be found to be less than, say, for
instance, the income from their ancestral property.
This test assumes significance and importance only
in the case of journalists who are employed on parttime basis.
Reverting to the second requirement of employment which we have already seen must obviously
govern the employees falling under the latter part
of s. 2 (b) if they seek the status of working journalists, it is plain that an employment must be proved,
because that alone will create a relationship of
employer and employee
between
them and the
newspaper establishment. Unless there is an employment,
there can be no conditions of service and
there would be no scope for making any claim under
the Act. Thus the requirement of employment
postulates conditions of service agreed between the
parties subject to which the relationship of master
and servant comes into existence. In the context,
employment must necessarily postulate exclusive
employment, because a working journalist cannot
serve two employers, for that would be inconsistent
with the benefits which he is entitled to claim from
his employer under the Act. Take the benefit of
retrenchment compensation, or gratuity, or hours of
work, or leave ; how is it possible for a journalist
to claim these benefits from two or more employers~
The whole scheme of the Act by which the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act have been
made
. applicable
to
~or king
journalists,
necessanly assumes the relationship of employer
and employee and that must mean exclusive employment by the employer on terms and conditions of
service agreed between the parties.
Normally,
e!Ilployment contemplated by s. 2(b) would be full
time employment; but part-time employment is not
excluded from s. 2(b) either. Most of the employees
1963
Man•g61n1nt1
l!.."press Newjfiap1Ts
Ltd.
v.
B. Som4J1aju/u
Goj1nlir11g5dkor· J.
.'vlanagtment Qj
E:1Cp1tss Newspap1r J
Ud.
v.
B.S,,,nayajulu
Gflj,,,drogadkar J.
ii2
SUPREME COURT REPORTS[l964] VOL.
falling under the first .clause of s. 2 (b) or even
under the artificial extension prescribed by the later
clause of s. 2(b) would be full time employees. But
it is theoretically possible that a news-photographer,
for instance, or a cartoonist may not necessarily be
a full time ·employee. The modern trend of newspaper establishments appears to be to have on their
rolls full time employees alone as working journalists;
but on a fair construction of s. 2(b), we do not think
it would be possible to hold that a part-time employee who satisfies the test prescribed by s. 2(b) can
be excluded from its purview merely because his
employment is part time.
The position, therefore, is that the Labour
Court was in error in making a finding that the
respondent was not a working journalist on the
ground that he was a part time employee, whereas
the High Court is in error in holding that the respondent is an employee because he has not to satisfy
the test that journalism is his principal avocation.
As we have held, the respondent .can be said to be
a working journalist on! y if he satisfies the two tests
prescribed by the first part of s. 2(b).
The test that
he should have been employed as a journalist would
undoubtedly be satisfied because it is common ground
that since 1935 he has been working as a correspondent of the appellant at Guntur and the payment
which the appellant made to him by whatever name
it was called was also regulated by an agreement
between the parties; in its pleadings, the appellant
has, however, disputed the fact that the respondent
was exclusively employed by it and so, that is one
question which still remains to be tried. The further
question which has to be considered is whether the
respondent satisfies the other test : "was his working
as a correspondent his principal avocation at the
relevant time"?
The definition requires that the
respondent must show that he was a working journalist at the time when his services were terminated;
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and that can be decided only on the evidence addu"
ced by the parties.
Unfortunately, though the
Labour Court has made certain observations on this
point, it has not considered all the evidence and has
made no definite finding in that behalf. That was
because it held that as a part time employee, the
respondent was outsides. 2(b).
The High Court has
no doubt purported to make a finding even on this
ground in the alternative, but, in our opinion, the
High Court should not have adopted this course in
dealing with a writ petition under Articles 226 and
227. Even in dealing with
this question, the
High Court appears to have been impressed by the
fact that in discharging his work as a correspondent
the respondent must have devoted a large part of his
time; and it took the view that the test that jour·
nalism should be the principal avocation of the
journalist implied a test as to how much time is spent
in ·doing the work in question? The time spent by
a journalist in discharging his duties as such mav no
doubt be relevant, but it cannot be decisive. What
would be relevant, material and decisive is the gain
made by the part time journalist by pursuing the
profession or journalism as compared to the gain
made by him by pursuing other vocations or profes·
sions. Jn dealing with this aspect of the matter, it
may no doubt be relevant to bear in mind the fact
u,at some months before his services as a correspondent were terminated, the respondent's selling agency
had come to an end, and so, the Labour Court may
have to hold an enquiry into the question as to
whether the respondent proves that the work of
correspondent was his principal avocation at the
relevant time in the light of the relevant facts. The
onus to prove this issue as well as the issue as to
whether h.e was in the exclusive employment of the
appellant hes on the· respondent, because his claim
t~at he is a working journalist on these grounds is
dISputed by the appellant, and it is only if he establishes the fact that he is a working journalist that the
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Gqjmdrazadkar
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Gaj1ndrazadlrlw J,
114
SUPRENIE COURT REPORTS [1964]VOL.
question as to determining the relief to which he is
entitled may arise. We, therefore, allow the appeal,
set aside the order passed by the High Court and
remand the case to the Labour Court with a direction that it should deal with the dispute between the
parties in accordance with law in the light of this
judgment. There would b.e no order as to costs.
Before we part with this appeal, however, we
would incidentally like to refer to the fact that the
test of the principal avocation· prescribed bys. 2(b)
has presumably been adopted bv the legislature from
the recommendations made by the Press Commission
in its report.
In paragraph 505, dealing with the
question of working journalists, the Commission
observed that it thought that "only those whose professed avocation and the principal means of livelihood is journalism shou Id be regarded as working
journalists," and it added that "we have deliberately·
included the words "professed avocation" because
we have come across cases where persons belonging
to some other professions, such as law, medicine,
education, have devoted part of their time to the
supply of news to and writing articles for, newspapers.
It may be that in the case of some of.them, particularly during the earlier years of their professional
career, income from the practice of their own profession. But it would not, on that account, be correct ·
to classify them as working journalists, so long as
their professed avocation is other than journalism."
It would be noticed that the expression "professed
avocation" has not been adopted by the legislature
instead, it has
used the words "principal avocation". That is why we are inclined to take the view
that the time taken by a person in pursuing two
different professions may not be decisive; what would
be decisive is the income derived bv him from the
different professions respectively.
It does appear
that the legislature was inclined to take the view ·
th.it if a person following the prof~ssion of law in
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the early years of his career received more money
from journalistic work and satisfied the other tests
prescribrd bys. 2(b), he may not be excluded from
the definition mere! y because he is following another
profession. To that extent, the provision of s. 2(b)
departs from a part of the recommendation made by
the Press Commission.
In regard to part time employees who, as we
have held, are not necessarily excluded from s. 2(b)
the position appears to be that the report by the
W~ge Committee appointed by the Union Govern·
ment under the provisions of Act 45 of 1955, shows
that the Committee treated some part time employees
as working journalists. In paragraph 103, the committee has observed that it had provided a regular
scale or retainer for part time correspondents, and
it has added that the remuneration in accordance
with that scale will be available to the part time
correspondents only if, in accordance with the
definition in paragraph 23, Part II, of its recommendations, their principal avocation is journalism.
The Committee noticed the fact that many of the
part time correspondents employed by newspaper
establishments would not fall within the definition
if their principal avocation is something else and
journalism is only a side business, and it added that
the problem of the said class of part time correspondents was not within the purview of its terms of
reference, and so, it made no recommendations in
regard to that class.
Appeal allowed.
Case remanded.
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B, )~omay1julu
Gaj1ntfra1adk111 J.