BIJAY COTTON MILLS LTD. versus THE STATE OF AJMER

Citation: [1955] 1 S.C.R. 752 · Decided: 14-10-1954 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: MEHR CHAND MAHAJAN · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 4 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

1954 
75:2 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
BIJAY COTTON MILLS LTD. 
v. 
THE STATE OF AJMER. 
[MEHR CHAND MAHAJAN C. J., MuKHERJEA, 
VIVIAN BosE, JAGANNADHADAS and 
VENKATARAMA 
AYYAR JJ.) 
[1955] 
Constitution of India, A1"ts. 19(1)(g), 19(6)-Minimum Wages 
Act (XI of 1948) ss 3, 4 and 5-Appropriate Government-Fixing 
minimum rate of wages-Whether 
offends 
fundamental rights 
guaranteed under Art. 19(1)(g). 
The provisions of ss. 3, 4 and 5 of the 
Minimum Wages Act 
(XI of 
1948) empower 
the appropriate 
Government to fix the 
minimum rate of 
wages in an 
industrial dispute 
between 
the 
employer and the employed and it is a criminal offence not to pay 
the wages thus fixed under the Act. 
~ 
Held, that the restrictions imposed upon the freedom of con-
tract by the fixation of minimum rates of wages though 
they 
interfere to some extent with the freedo1n of trade or business 
guaranteed under Art. 19(1 )(g) of the Constitution are not unreason-
able and being imposed in the interest of general public and with a 
view to carry out one of the Directive Principles of State 
Policy 
as embodied in Art. 43 of the 
Constitution _are protected by the 
terms of cl. ( 6) of Art. 19. 
S. I. Est. etc. v. 
The Stat< of Madras, (1954) 1 M.L.J. 518 
;----
referred to. 
ORIGINAL 
JuRISDICTION : Petitions Nos. 
188 
and 
189 of 1954. 
Under article 32 of the 
Constitution of India for 
the enforcement of Fundamental Rights. 
H. M. 
Seervai, f. 
B. 
Dadachanji and 
Rajinder 
Narain for petitioners. 
C. K. Daphtary, 
Solicitor-General for India (M. M. 
Kaul and P. G. Gokhale, with him) for respondent. 
1954. 
October 14. The Judgment of the Court 
was delivered by 
MuKHERJEA J.-We now take up the two connected 
petitions under article 32 of the Constitution. In one 
.of these petitions, to wit Petition No. 188, 
Shri Bijay 
Cotton Mills Ltd. (hereinafter called 'the 
company'), 
the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 139 of 1954, figures 
as the 
petitioner, while 
the other petition, to wit, 
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S.C.R. 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
753 
Petition No. 189, has been filed by a number of employees 
working under it. To appreciate the 
contentions of 
Mr. Seervai, who 
appears in 
support of both these 
petitions, 
it will be 
necessary 
to 
narrate a few 
antecedent facts : 
It appears that sometime in 
1950 there was an 
industrial 
dispute 
between 
the 
company and its 
labourers regarding enhancement 
of 
wages and the 
dispute was referred by the Government of Ajmer to 
an Industrial Tribunal, by a notification dated the 1st 
December, 1950. The tribunal made its award on the 
27th November, 1951, and held that "the present earn-
ing capacity of the mill precludes the award of higher 
rates of wages and higher dearness allowance." The 
employees took an appeal against this award to 
the 
Appellate 
Tribunal. 
While this 
appeal was pending, 
the 
Chief 
Cwnmissioner, Ajmer, took steps for the 
fixation of minimum wages of labourers in the textile 
industry within the State, under the provisions of the 
Minimum Wages Act. A committee was 
formed, as 
has already been stated, on the 17th of January, 1952, 
which submitted its report on the 4th 
of October, 
following and on the 7th of October, 1952, the notifica-
tion was issued 
fixing the 
minimum rates of wages, 
against which writ 
petitions were filed by several 
textile companies 
including the 
petitioner company. 
In the 
meantime however the appeal 
filed 
by the 
labourers of the company proceeded, in the usual way, 
before the Appellate Tribunal. The Appellate Tribunal 
sent 
the 
case back to the Industrial Tribunal for 
further 
investigation and 
the latter 
made its final 
award on the 8th of September, 1953, by which it 
rejected the basis upon which minimum wages of Rs. 56 
were fixed by the Chief 
Commissioner and fixed the 
minimum wages includes the dearness allowance at 
Rs. 35 only. The company states in its petition that 
the minimum wages fixed by the State Government of 
Ajmer is altogether prohibitory and it is not at all 
possible for the company to carry on its business on 
payment of such wages. Accordingly the company 
closed its mills on and from the 1st April, 1953. There 
were about 1500 labourers working in the mills of the 
company and since January, 1954, several hundreds of 
1954 
Bijay C•tl1n 
Mills lJd. 
v. 
The State ef 
Ajmu. 
MukherjeaJ. 
1954 
Bijay Cotton 
Mills Ud. 
v. 
The State of 
~finer. 
· Mukh~rjui J. 
754 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 

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