# STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH v. NARAYANA VELUR BEEDI MANUFACTURING FACTORY & OTHERS

- **Citation:** [1973] 3 S.C.R. 755
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1973-03-26
- **Case number:** Civil Appeals Nos. 1659 to 1662 of 1967
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/state-of-andhra-pradesh-v-narayana-velur-beedi-manufacturing-factory-others-5934
- **Pages:** 7

## Headnote

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STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
v.
NARAYANA VELUR BEEDI MANUFACTURING FACTORY
& OTHERS
March 26, 1973
[A. N. GROVER, K. K. MATHEW AND A. K. MUKHERJEA, JJ.1
Minimum Wages Act, 1948, s. 9-'Independent persons'-[/ include
Government officials.
The appellant-Government passed an order revising ~inimum wages
in the Bidi industry. It was based on the recommendat10n of a Committee of six members consisting df persons representing employers and
employees "!'d the Chief I~~r and Deputy Chief Insp~tor of Factories.
Section 9 of the Mm1mum Wages Act, 1948, rcqu1res that the
Committee shall consist of an equal number of repiesentati\'es of the
employer and the employees and of Independent persons not exceeding
one third of its total number. On the question whether the two Government officials could be regarded as independent persons,
HELD : The mere fact that they happened to be Government officials
or Government servants will not divest them of the character of independent persons. [76Jq
The language <if s. 9 does not contain any indication that persons in
tile employment of the Government would be excluded from the category
of 'independent persons'. These words have essentially been employed
in contradistinction to representatives of employers and employees. In
other words, apart from the representatives of employers and employees
there should be persons who should be independent of them. [760G-HJ
Further, the presence of high government officials,
who may have
actual working knowledge about the problems · of employers
and employees can afford a good deal of guidance and assistance in formulating
the advice which is to be tendered. It may be that in .certain circumstances
.such persons may cease to have an independent character. iC!he quettion
of fixation of mininium wages in an employment in which the appropiblte
Government is directly interested, ari.es. . It would
therefore
depend
upon the facts <if each particular case whether the penons who have been
appointed could be regarded as independent or not. It is not correct to
say that a Government official will have a bias onhat he may favour the
policy which the appropriate Government may be inclined to adopt, because, when he is a member of an Advisory "Committee he is expected-to
give an impartial and independent advice and not merely carry out what
~e Government may be incHncd to do.
Government . officials are responsible persons and are capable of takin~. a detached and impartial vie\\',
[760H; 761A-E)
Jaswan.t Ra! Beri & Others v. State of Punjab & another,
A.LR.
1958 Pun). 425, D. M. S, Rao & Others v. The State of Kera/a
&
A"'?ther, A.LR. 1963 Kerala 115, Bengal Motion Pictures Employees
Unwn, C<icutta v. Kohinoor .Pictures Private Ltd. & Ors. A.LR. 1964
Cal. 619, .Ramkrlshna Ramnath Nagpu' & Another v.
The
State
of
Maharasht;a & Anorber, A.LR. 1964 Born. 51, Chandrabhave Boarding
and Lodging & Others v. Stcte of Mysore, A.LR. 1968 Mys. 156 and
P. Gangadharan Pillai v. State of Kera/a & Others A.LR. 1968 Kerala
218, approved.
'
756
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1973] 3 S.C.R.
Norotamdas Harjivandas v. P. V.
Gourikar,
Inspector,
Minimum
Wages, A.LR. 1961 M.B. 182 a;nd Kohinoor Pictures (Private) Ltd. v.
State of West Bengal & Others, (1961] 2 L.L.J. 741, over ruled.

## Text

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155
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
v.
NARAYANA VELUR BEEDI MANUFACTURING FACTORY
& OTHERS
March 26, 1973
[A. N. GROVER, K. K. MATHEW AND A. K. MUKHERJEA, JJ.1
Minimum Wages Act, 1948, s. 9-'Independent persons'-[/ include
Government officials.
The appellant-Government passed an order revising ~inimum wages
in the Bidi industry. It was based on the recommendat10n of a Committee of six members consisting df persons representing employers and
employees "!'d the Chief I~~r and Deputy Chief Insp~tor of Factories.
Section 9 of the Mm1mum Wages Act, 1948, rcqu1res that the
Committee shall consist of an equal number of repiesentati\'es of the
employer and the employees and of Independent persons not exceeding
one third of its total number. On the question whether the two Government officials could be regarded as independent persons,
HELD : The mere fact that they happened to be Government officials
or Government servants will not divest them of the character of independent persons. [76Jq
The language <if s. 9 does not contain any indication that persons in
tile employment of the Government would be excluded from the category
of 'independent persons'. These words have essentially been employed
in contradistinction to representatives of employers and employees. In
other words, apart from the representatives of employers and employees
there should be persons who should be independent of them. [760G-HJ
Further, the presence of high government officials,
who may have
actual working knowledge about the problems · of employers
and employees can afford a good deal of guidance and assistance in formulating
the advice which is to be tendered. It may be that in .certain circumstances
.such persons may cease to have an independent character. iC!he quettion
of fixation of mininium wages in an employment in which the appropiblte
Government is directly interested, ari.es. . It would
therefore
depend
upon the facts <if each particular case whether the penons who have been
appointed could be regarded as independent or not. It is not correct to
say that a Government official will have a bias onhat he may favour the
policy which the appropriate Government may be inclined to adopt, because, when he is a member of an Advisory "Committee he is expected-to
give an impartial and independent advice and not merely carry out what
~e Government may be incHncd to do.
Government . officials are responsible persons and are capable of takin~. a detached and impartial vie\\',
[760H; 761A-E)
Jaswan.t Ra! Beri & Others v. State of Punjab & another,
A.LR.
1958 Pun). 425, D. M. S, Rao & Others v. The State of Kera/a
&
A"'?ther, A.LR. 1963 Kerala 115, Bengal Motion Pictures Employees
Unwn, C<icutta v. Kohinoor .Pictures Private Ltd. & Ors. A.LR. 1964
Cal. 619, .Ramkrlshna Ramnath Nagpu' & Another v.
The
State
of
Maharasht;a & Anorber, A.LR. 1964 Born. 51, Chandrabhave Boarding
and Lodging & Others v. Stcte of Mysore, A.LR. 1968 Mys. 156 and
P. Gangadharan Pillai v. State of Kera/a & Others A.LR. 1968 Kerala
218, approved.
'
756
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1973] 3 S.C.R.
Norotamdas Harjivandas v. P. V.
Gourikar,
Inspector,
Minimum
Wages, A.LR. 1961 M.B. 182 a;nd Kohinoor Pictures (Private) Ltd. v.
State of West Bengal & Others, (1961] 2 L.L.J. 741, over ruled.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeals Nos. 1659
to 1662 of 1967.
Appeals by certificate from the judgment and order dated
January 31, 1964 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court at Hyderabad
in Writ Petition Nos. 337 /63, 746/62, 735/62 and 807 /62,
respectively.
P. Ram Reddy and A. V. V. Nair, for the appellant.
M. C. Chagla, H. K. Puri and 'Niranjana Shah, for the respondents (in C. A. No. 1659) respondents 1 to 10, 12 to 14, 16
and 19 to 29 (in C.A. No. 1660), Respondent No. 1 (in C.A. No.
1661) and Respondents Nos. 1 to 5 (in C.A. No. 1662).
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
GROVER, J .-The sole question which has to be decided in
these appeals by certificate from a judgment of the Andhra Pradesh High Court is the meaning of the word "independent" in s. 9
of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, hereinafter called the "Act".
The Act was enacted to provide for fixing the minimum rates
of wages in certain employments. Section 2 gives the definition
of various expressions. Clauses (e) (h) and (i) give the meaning of the words "employer", "wages'' and "employee" respectively.
Section 3 provides for fixing of the minimum rates of wages by
the appropriate government and their review at certain intervals.
Section 5 gives the procedure for fixing and revising minimum
wage<s. Section 5 reads :-
s. 5 ( 1 ) "In fixing minimum rates of wages in respect of any scheduled employment for the first time
under this Act or in revising minimum rates of wages so
fixed, the appropriate government shall either-
( a) appoint as many committees and sub-committees
as it considers necessary to hold enquiries and advise
it in respect of such fixation or revision, as the case may
be, or
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(b) . by notification in the Official Gazette, publish
its proposals for the information of persons likely to be
affected thereby and specify a date not less than two
months from the date of the notification, on which the
proposals will be taken into consideration.
( 2) After considering the advice of the committee
or committees appointed under clause (a) of sub-section
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A.P. STATE v. BEED! MFG. FACTORY (Grover, J.)
757
( 1) or as the case may be, all representations received
by it before the date specified in the notification under
clause (b) of that sub-section, the appropriate government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, fix,
or, as the case may be, revise the minimum rates of
wages in respect of each scheduled employment, and
unless such notification otherwise provides, it shall come
into force on the expiry of three months from the date
of its issue :
Provided .......................... "
Section 9 relates to composition of committees etc. and is in these
terms:
S.9. "Each of the committees, sub-committees and
the Advisory Board shall consist of persons to be nominated by the appropriate Government representing
employers and employees in the scheduled employments,
who shall be equal in number, and independent persons
not exceeding one-third of its total number of members;
one of such independent persons shall be appointed the
Chairman by the appropriate Government."
The Government Order which was challenged related to the
revision of minimum wages in the Bidi industry. It was based
on the recommendation of a committee consisting of six m'~nbers •.
two of whom were Chief Inspector of Factories, Hyderabad, and
Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, Hyderabad; the former being
the Chairman. These two officers were to be on the committees
from among the category of independent persons mentioned in
s. 9. The whole controversy has centered on the question whether
the aforesaid two officers could be regarded as independent persons. There are a number of decisions of the High Courts. In
majority of them, namely, Jaswant Rai Beri & Others v. State of
Punjab & Another;('') D. M. S. Rao & Others v. The State of
Kera/a & Another,(') Bengal Motion Pictures Employees Union,
Calcutta v. Kohinqor Pictures Private Ltd. & Others;(') Ramkrishna Ramnath Nagpur & Another v. The State of Maharashtra
& Another;(') Chandrabhava Boarding & Lodging and Others v.
State of Mysore(') and P. Gangadharan Pillai v. State of Kera/a
& Others, (6 ) it has been held that the mere fact that a person
happens to be i government servant or that he is an officer, he
does not cease to be an independent person within the meaning
of s. 9. The only two decisions in which a contrary view has been
taken are Narottamdas Harjivandas v. P. V. Gowarikar, Inspector,
(l) A.1.R. 1958 Punj. 425.
(3) A.LR. 1964 Cal. 519.
(5) A.l.R. 1968 Mys. 156.
16-L761Sup.C.l. /73
(2) A.LR. 1963 Kerala 115.
(4) A.LR. 1964 Bom. 51.
(6) A.l.R. 1968 Kerala 218.
758
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[ 1973] 3 S.C.R.
Minimum Wages(')
and Kohinoor Pictures (Private) Ltd. v.
State of West Bengal & Others;(') the latter is a judgment of the
learned single Judge of the Calcutta High Court. It may be mentioned. that in the judgment under appeal the Andhra Pradesh
High Court has also taken the same view as the Madhya Pradesh
court.
~.1e reasoning of Bishan Narain J .. in the l'unjab case is quite
simple. The leai:ned Judge considered that in the context of s. 9
an independent person means· a person who is neither an employer
nor an employee in the employment for which minimum wages
are to be fixed, The presence of independent persons is necessary
to safeguard the interests of those whose requirements are met by
the trade concerned. In a welfare State, according to him, it is
the business of the Government to create conditions wherein private employers can carry on their trade profitably as long as the
workmen are not exploited. In such circumstances the appointment of a Labour Commissioner, who is conversant with the
employment conditions, cannot be objected to on the ground that
he was not an independent -person. In the first Kera la case C. A.
Vaidialingam J .. as he then was, gave some additional reasons for
supporting the view of Bishan-Narain J. He referred to s. 2(i) of
the Industrial Disputes Act 194 7 for illustrating that a person
shall be deemed to be independent for the nurnose of his anl'ointment as Chairman or other members of a Board. Court or Tribunal if he was unconnected with the industrial dispute referred to
such Board, Court or Tribunal or with any industry directly
effected by such dispute. This is what the learned Judge observed
with reference to the provisions of s. 9 :
"When it speaks of persons to be nominated by the
Government to the committee representing employers
and employees in the scheduled employments and also
of nominating an "independent person", in my view,
the object of the enactment is that the "independent
person" should be who has nothing to do with the employers or employees in the scheduled employment in
question.
It may that under particular circumstances,
when an industry, in which the State Government as an
employer may also be vitally interested and in which
case it can be considered to be an employer, it may not
be proper to nominate an official to the committee
treating him as an independent member".
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court consisting of Bose
C. J. and G. K. Mitter J .. as he then was, in Bengal Motion Pictures Employees Union v. Kohinoor Pictures P. Ltd.(") referred
(t) A.T.R. 1961 M.P. IR2.
(2) 1961 2 LL.I. 741.
(3) A.1.R. 1964 Cal. 519.
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A.P. STATE v. BEED! MFG. FACTORY (Grover, J.)
759
to the legislative policy underlying the enactment of the Act. What
is aimed at is the statutory fixatiOn of minimum wages with a view
to obviating the chances of exploitation of labour. Such being
the main object it was natural to expect that the Government
would seek the assistance of persons who were well conversant
with the conditions of labour, industrial competition, profits from
the industry and various other relevant factors which are to be
considered in fixing the minimum wages. It could hardly . be
doubted tbat persons like the Labour Commissibner or the Deputy
Labour Commissioner are most suitable persons to be consulted
for the purpose.
The other reason given in the Calcutta ~·ase was
similar to the one which prevailed with Bishan Narain J., -in the
Punjab case. In the Bombay case the Division Bench referred to
certain rules framed under s. 30 of the Act by the Government of
Bombay. According to Rule 4 provision was made for terms of
office of members of the Board and a distinction was made in subrules 2 and 3 between the non-official member and the official
member of the Board. From the scheme of the rules it was inferred that even Government officials were contemplated tci fall
within the category of "independent persons".
It is unnecessary
to refer to the other decisions which favour the majority view.
In the Madhya.Pradesh case P. V. Dixit, C.J., delivering the
judgment of the Bench said that the expression
"independent
persons" did not mean persons who were independent ·only of
employers and employees in the scheduled employment and included officials. The ordinary connotation of the word "independent person", it was pointed out, is of a person who is not dependent on any body, authority or organisation and who is able to
form his own opinion without any control or guidance of any
outside agency.
It appears that in this case the learned Judges
were infiuenced by the consideration that the State is actively
interested in the wage earners and in the matter of fixation of
minimum wages. That precluded Government officials from fall'
ing within the class of independent persons provided for by s. 9.
In Kohinoor Pictures case(') a learned single judge while appreciating that the advisory committees constituted under 5 read with
s. 9 of the Act have a purely advisory function, took the view that
the appropriate Government in fixing the minimum rates of wages
was not at all a disinterested person. · He also took into consideration the interest which the Government may have in fixing the
minimum wa~es. According to him the fixation of minimum wages
is an operation compelling the employer to make a payment
whether he wishes it or not and in· most cases contrary to his
wishe~. Three partie1 are involved in such compulsory fixation.
namely, the Government, the employer and the employed. If
--(I-) il9611 2 L.LT.741·. -
760
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1973] 3 S.C.R.
the advisory committee is really to consist of independent persons
they should be independent of all the three categories.
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Mr. Chagla for the respondents has relied a great deal on the
dictionary meanings of the word "independent" as given fn Shorter
Oxford English Dictionary. One of the principal meaning given
is "not depending upon the authority of another; not in position n
of subordination; not subject to external control or rule". Accord·
ing to Mr. Chagla a Government official cannot be regarded as
independent because he is to depend upon the authority of the
government and is in position of subordination and is subject to
external control.
It has been strenuously urged that the whole
object of having an advisory committee is to get an impartial c
opinion or advice in the matter of fixing of miniinum wages. The
committee has to consist of representatives of employers and the
employees in the scheduled employment who have to be equal in
number. The presence of independent persons not exceeding one
third of the total number of members is necessary to ensure that a
proper balance is maintained between the view of the representatives of the employers and the employees respectively. If a
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government official and, in particular, one associated either with
labour or factories in his official capacity is brought into the committee he is likely to be biased in his views for various reasons.
He may know the policy of the government or he may himself
have participated in the formulation of that policy. · He may have
certain prediliction because of special knowledge obtained by him
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while setving in a department which is connected with labour or
industry. All these matters would divest him of the character of
an independent person.
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In our judgment the view which has prevailed with the majority of the High Courts must be sustained. The committee or the
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advisory board can only tender advise which is not binding on the
government while fixing the minimum wages or revising the same
as the case may be. Of course the government is expected, partii
cularly in the present· democratic set up, to take that advice
seriously into consideration and act on it but it is not bound to do
so. The language of s. 9 does not contain any indication whatsoever that persons in the employment of the government would be
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excluded from the category of independent persons. These words
have essentially been employed in contradistiction to representatives of employers and employees. In other words, apart from
the representatives of employers and employees there should be
persons who should be independent of them. It does not follow
that persons in the service or employ of the government were
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meant to be excluded and they cannot be regarded as independent
persons vis-a-vis the representatives of the employers and empleyees. Apart from this the presence of high government officials.
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A.P. STATE v. BEED! MFG. FACTORY (Grover, J.)
761
who may have actual working knowledge about the problems of
employers and employees can afford a good deal of guidance and
·assistance in formulating the advice which is to be tendered under
~. 9 to the appropriate government It may be that in certain
circumstances such persons who are in the service of the government may cease to have an independent character if the question
arises of fixation of minimum wages in a scheduled employment
in which the appropriate government is directly interested.
It
would, therefore, depend upon the facts of each particular case
whether the persons who have been appointed from out of the
class of independent pei:sons can be regarded as independent or
not. But the mere fact that they happen to be government officials
or government servants will not divest them of the character of
independent persons. We are not impressed with the reasoning
adopted that a government official will have a bias or that he may
favour the policy which the appropriate government may be
inclined to adopt because when he is a member of an advisory
committee or board he is expected to give an impartial and
independent advice and not merely carry out what the Government may be inclinded to do. Government officials are responsible persons and it cannot be said that they are not capable of
taking a detached and impartial view_
' For the reasons given above the appeals are allowed and the .
judgment of the High Court is hereby set aside. As other matters
E · were left un~ecided in the writ petitions c;>ut of which these appeals
have arisen the case shall go back to the High Court for disposal
in accordance with Jaw. Costs shall abide the event.
V.P.S.
Appeals allowed.