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TMI Blog1966 (3) TMI 94X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... their demands, one of which was that the provisions of the Act and rules framed thereunder should be applied to the reading staff of the Press (letter, dated 12th August, 1961, Annexure "Q"). A statement of claims was also submitted to the Labour Commissioner and Conciliation Officer, Government of India. Certain correspondence took place between the Conciliation Officer and the Association and on 12th February, 1962, the said officer discussed the matter with the representatives of the Association. Further correspondence took place as the Conciliation Officer said that the case was under consideration. He intimated by his letter, dated 22nd August, 1962, that the Government had decided that the Gazette of India was not a newspaper within the meaning of the Act and therefore, the dispute raised by the Association had no basis. The association, however, pursued the matter but finally a letter was written on 20th December, 1962, by the Under-Secretary to the Government of India saying that the provisions of the Act were not applicable to the reading staff of the press and reference in this connection was made to Section 19-B which was inserted by Section 8 of the Working J ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ive weeks, exclusive of the time for meals, while in the case of the Petitioners there were day-shifts and night-shifts and the working hours were 176 for the same period. Moreover, labour laws such as the Factories Act, Payment of Wages Act, Industrial Disputes Act, Trade Unions Act and the rules framed under those Acts were applicable to the Petitioners and not to employees of the former class. Therefore, Section 19-B of the Act would not apply to them. Alternatively it was pleaded that the aforesaid section must be held to be unconstitutional, ultra vires, void and inoperative so far at it excluded the Petitioners from enjoying the benefits of the provisions of the Act. It was maintained that Section 19-B, as introduced by the amending Act, was opposed to the provisions of the Act and infringed the fundamental rights of the Petitioners and in particular, Article 14 of the Constitution. Further discrimination was being practised inasmuch as the Petitioners were being made to work for a greater number of hours than the proof-readers in the various Ministries and Departments to whom the rules specified in Section 19-B of the Act were applicable. In the rejoinder filed by Shri R.F. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ial nature, 6. (1) Subject to any rules that may be made under this Act, no working journalist shall be required or allowed to work in any newspaper establishment for more than one hundred and forty-four hours during any period of four consecutive weeks, exclusive of the time for meals. (2) Every working journalist shall be allowed during any period of seven consecutive days rest for a period of not less than twenty-four consecutive hours, the period between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. being included therein. Explanation.--For the purposes of this Section, 'week' means a period of seven days beginning at mid-night on Saturday. 19-B. Nothing in this Act or the Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958, shall apply to any working journalist who is an employee of the Government to whom the Fundamental and Supplementary Rules, Civil Services. (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, Revised Leave Rules, Civil Services (Classification Control and Appeal) Rules or the Indian Railway Establishment Code or any other rules or regulations that may be notified in this behalf by the Central Government in the Official Gazette, apply. Now, admittedly the various parts of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lume III, a case from Australia is mentioned with reference to the meaning of the word "newspaper" in which the question was whether Bradshaw's Guide was not a publication 'known and recognised as a newspaper in the generally accepted sense of the word'. The answer was given in the negative by Hood, J., in Ex. P. Stillwell (1903) 29 C.L.R. 415 who said that in its teal nature the Bradshaw's Guide Was essentially a book of reference arid lacked every element of what could be called a newspaper. Its form, its contents and its use all pointed to something totally different to an ordinary newspaper, whose main object was to give information about recent events and which was not a record but was in its nature ephemeral. Narasisham, C.J., delivering the judgment of the Bench in P.S.V. Iyer v. Commissioner of Sales-tax A.I.R. 1960 Ori 221, applied these observations to the case of Cuttack Law Times which was held not to fall within the meaning of the word "newspaper" for the purposes of Section 24(1) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act. 6. Thus, the short question is whether the information or reports which are published in the Gazette of India would be news b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... owing to any requirements of the laws of the land. It may be that when the Prime Minister passed away that fact has to be notified for public information and similarly the fact of the senior officers of the Armed Forces having died in an air crash may have to be notified but what has been stated in these notifications appears to indicate that they are more in the nature of such public news as would be published even in a newspaper as read and understood by all members of the public. Moreover, it seems to me that even the other matters which are published in the Gazette cannot but be regarded as reports of recent events which it is necessary to be conveyed to the public in an authentic and official periodical. It is not essential for a newspaper to conform strictly to the usual pattern of a daily or weekly or monthly newspaper or magazine containing news which members of the public ordinarily read in order to get reports of recent events, comments on them, etc., but that cannot be the prime consideration in deciding whether the Gazette of India can be called a newspaper within the meaning of Section 2(b) of the Act. Mr. Chatterji appears to be right in saying that the Gazette of Ind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... expressed the view that the working journalists did not fall within the meaning of "workmen" as defined by the Industrial Disputes Act at that time. After the publication of this report, the Working Journalists (Industrial Disputes) Act, 1955, was enacted. The Act also was passed and it received the assent of the President on 20th December, 1955. According to Mr. Shankar, the entire history and background of the legislation in the present case show that the Act was meant to protect the Working Journalists, in the newspaper industry which was privately run with a profit-making motive. The Act, was, therefore, not intended, or meant for being, applied, to the employees of the Government in Government Presses and that is the reason why Section 19-B came to be inserted. It may be mentioned that this section did not exist, in the original Act but was for the first time inserted by the Working Journalists (Amendment) Act, 1962. The position of the Petitioners strikes one as most peculiar. On the one hand they are Government employees to whom all the rules mentioned in Section 19-B apply but at the same time they can also take advantage of the entire labour legislation being go ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e implication of the article is that all litigants similarly situated are entitled to avail themselves of the same procedural rights for relief and for defence with like protection and without discrimination. It is not possible to see how this case can be of any help to Mr. Chatterji. What weighed with their Lordships was the fixing of an arbitrary date, e.g., 1st September, 1948 for forming a class of tax evaders who were to be dealt with by the drastic procedure provided by that Act. Mr. Chatterji has also relied on the well-known case of The State of West Bengal v. Anwar Ali Sarkar A.I.R. 1952 S.C. 75, in which it has been laid down that the mere fact of classification is not sufficient to relieve a statute from the reach of the equality clause of Article 14 and to get out of its reach it must appear that not only a classification has been made but also that it is one-based upon a reasonable ground on some difference which bears a just and proper relation to the attempted classification and is not a mere arbitrary selection. 8. The first objection of Mr. Shanker is to the entertain ability of the contention now sought to be advanced on the basis of Article 14 of the Constituti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of legislation. In order, however, to pass the test of permissible classification, two conditions must be fulfilled, namely, (i) that the classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group and (ii) that that differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question. The classification may be founded on different bases, namely, geographical, or according to objects or occupation or the like. What is necessary is that there must be a nexus between the basis of classification and the object of the Act under consideration. It is also well established by the decisions of this Court that Article 14 condemns discrimination not only by substantive law but also by a law of procedure. While examining the application of these principles to the provisions of the Act, Bhagwati, J., said at page 631-- What was contemplated by the provisions of the impugned Act, however, was a general fixation of rates of wages of working journalists which would ameliorate the conditions of their service and the constitution of a wage board for this purpose ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ents in their counter to the rejoinder of the Petitioners is that the former are treated as part of the office establishment and the labour laws do not apply to them while the Petitioners in addition to being governed by the Fundamental and other rules mentioned in Section 19-B are also governed by the various labour laws which confer on them special privileges. Ex facie it does not look eminently just or fair that the Petitioners should be made to work for a greater number of hours than the other employees of the Government who are doing exactly the same sort of work as proofreaders, but that is not a matter which will render Section 19-B unconstitutional and void. It is well known that if a statutory provision is good and valid, it does not become bad and void because in actual practice some discrimination is being exercised between one set and another set of employees doing the same kind of work. It may also seem anomalous that, as held by me, the definition of working journalist in the Act should cover the Petitioners, but by Section 19-B, they should have been deprived of the benefits of the Act. These are, however, matters which it is for the Parliament to look into and furth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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