Introduction to the topic
Royal Talkies v. Employee State Insurance Corporation is a case pertaining to Employee State Insurance Act, 1948. The said Act is a piece of welfare legislation that guarantees social security to an employee. Thus before analyzing a case on hand it is appropriate on the part of researcher to illuminate the concept of labour welfare and applicability and objective of Employee State Insurance Act in brief.
Thereafter the researcher will comparatively analyse the meaning of term employee under various legislations since the main issue in the aforementioned case is pertaining to meaning of term employee under Section 2(9) of the Employee State Insurance Act, 1948.
Concept of Labour welfare and Social security
Industry and State cannot flourish when the labour languishes. Labour is considered to be a back bone of any economy. It plays pivotal role in economic growth and development of the organization and to the larger extent of the State. Any organization without productive and satisfied labour force is like body without life.
In other words, productivity of labour is considered to be an essential condition for the prosperity of organization as well as of State. The productivity of labour depends upon numerous factors such as wages paid to the workmen, health of workmen, appropriate working condition, training etc. One of the important factors that affect productivity of labour inter alia is Welfare of the workmen. Welfare of workmen directly contributes towards the productivity and efficiency of the workmen. Therefore it is incumbent that labour policy of State and organization to provide schemes for labour welfare.
Labour welfare is an important aspect of Industrial relation. The term labour welfare of workmen elucidates anything done for intellectual, physical, moral and economic betterment of the workmen whether by employers, by Government or by other agencies including what is laid down by law or what is normally expected on the part of contracted benefits for which workmen may have bargained[3]. Labour welfare is very comprehensive term and includes everything undertaken by State, employer and association of workers for the improvement of worker’s standard of living and promotion of their economic and social well being.
The basic objective behind providing welfare schemes is to have satisfied labor force for the organization. The purpose of providing such facilities is to make their work life better and also to raise their standard of living. The benefits of welfare measures can be summarized as follows:
- It provides better physical and mental health to workers and thus promotes a healthy work environment.
- Facilities like housing schemes, medical benefits, and education and recreation facilities for workers’ families help in raising their standards of living. This makes workers to pay more attention towards work and thus increases their productivity. Employers get stable labour force by providing welfare facilities. Workers take active interest in their jobs and work with a feeling of involvement and participation.
- Employee welfare measures increase the productivity of organization and promote healthy industrial relations thereby maintaining industrial peace.
One of the means of labour welfare is to provide social security to the workmen or employee. Social security in context of labour laws may be defined as “the security that employer or government furnishes, through appropriate organization, against certain risks to which employee or workmen are exposed”.
These risks are essentially contingencies against which the employee or workmen, who have small means, cannot protect themselves. These contingencies include employment injury, sickness, disablement, industrial disease, maternity, old age, burial, widowhood, orphanhood and unemployment. Security of workmen against these contingencies forms an essential part of labour welfare schemes because it permits a workman to pay more attention towards his work without getting worried about his family. A sense of security among the workman also reduces mental fatigue.
The State seeks to ensure social security of workmen through policies like pension, provident fund. Compensation is case of accidents, insurance etc.
Labour welfare and Social security in India
India is a welfare State and one of the objectives of welfare state is to Render social services to the people and promote their general welfare which includes welfare of workmen and employees[5]. Article 39(e) of the Constitution of India cast duty on State to ensure that the health and strength of workmen are not abused and workmen are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocation unsuited to their strength.
Article41 of the Constitution of India cast a duty on the State to make effective provision for securing right to work and public assistance in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement. Likewise Article 42 and 43 of the Constitution of India makes it obligatory on the part of State to take certain measure for labour welfare by securing just and humane condition of work, maternity relief, and basic wages through appropriate legislation. Thus the principles of labour welfare are well enshrined under the Part IV of the Constitution of India.
Several laws have been enacted by the Parliament to attain the objective of labour welfare enshrined under Part IV of the Constitution. In implementing these directive principles Social security of the workmen or employees has been specially taken care of by the Parliament. Parliament of India has enacted several laws that ensure social security workmen or employee. Some of those legislations are The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, The Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, The Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 etc.
Among the aforementioned legislations, The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 is one of the finest piece of labour welfare legislation that provides for all round Social security to the employee. The said Act provides for medical benefits, old age benefits, dependant benefits, disablement benefits and at last the funeral expenses. The case with which the present research project is concerned is based on this labour welfare legislation.
Nature of the study
The nature of the study is a doctrinal one. The subject matter of the study being a socio legal one on the subject Royal Talkies v. Employee State Insurance Corporation – A case Study, it would have been impracticable to carry out a non-doctrinal research project. Therefore the researcher has opted for doctrinal research project. This project is an in depth study of the judgment in case of the Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation and later development in the law. For the purpose of research project the researcher proposes to critically scrutinize the judgment in case of Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation and thereafter analyse latest case laws in which the said judgment is being referred, followed or dissented.
It will be help to analyse the current position of law on the issue involved in the aforementioned judgment. Besides, the researcher will discuss the objective and applicability of the Employee State Insurance, Act 1948 for the better understanding of the research project. It would have been impracticable to carry out non doctrinal research project since the research project involves analysis of the judgment and the one of the socio legal enactment.
Scope of the study
The scope of the research project is limited to interpretation of Section 2 (9) the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 in the case of Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation[8] since the main issue before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in this case, revolved around the aforementioned provision. For the better understanding of the research project the researcher will provide brief analysis of objective and applicability of the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 and thereafter compare the Section 2 (9) of the said Act with the other enactments. Thereafter the researcher will critically analyse the judgment in Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation[9].
Moreover in the present research project the researcher also proposes to analyse the cases in which the judgment in case of Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation[10] has been followed, referred or dissented to bring out the current position in law. Therefore the scope of study is primarily confined to Section 2(9) of the Employee State Insurance Act, 1948 but for the better under standing of the research project the researcher will also discuss the object and applicability of Employee State Insurance Act, 1948 and compare Section 2 (9) with the provisions of other legislations.
Objective of the Study
The Judgment in case of Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation[11] Special Economic Zones is a land mark in the field of labour welfare and social security. The primary objective to undertake this research project is to critically analyse the Judgment in aforementioned case and its contribution towards labour welfare and social security of the employee. The researcher through this project aims to analyse the evolution of law on the issue with the help of judicial pronouncement.
The secondary objective of this research project is ascertaining the reliability of the judgment in case of Royal Talkies v. Employment State Insurance Corporation and its relevance in the present scenario.
Research Methodology
The quality and value of research depends upon the proper and particular methodology adopted for the completion of research work. Looking at the nature and importance of the research topic doctrinal legal research methodology has been adopted. To make an authenticated study of the research topic ‘Royal Talkies v. Employee State Insurance Corporation- A case study’ enormous amount of study material is required. The relevant information and data necessary for its completion has been gathered from both primary as well as secondary sources available in the books, journals, periodicals, newspapers, research articles and proceedings of the books on Labour and Industrial Law and Constitutional Law, Journals, seminars, conventions, and websites.
Keeping in view the need of present research, various cases filed in the Supreme Court as well as in the High Courts on the issue of and the judgments therein have also been used as a source of information. The judgments pronounced in the cases have been analyzed in detail and used as a means of diagnosis to determine the current position of law. From the collected material and information, researcher proposes to critically analyse the topic of the study and tries to reach the core aspects of the study.
