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of the employer to pay the increased rates of incremental wages and its future capacity have to be taken into account in determining an increased level of fair wages based on an incremental scale. Thus both financial ability at present and financial stability in the near future must be there to justify fixation of an increased fair wage on an incremental scale. We do not think it will be right to insist on an increased fair wage on an incremental scale in a case where the financial capacity and the financial stability as judged by business principles are both lacking. Nor would it in our opinion be right to compel the employer to bear the burden of an increased fair wage on an incremental scale and tell him to find money from what may in effect be capital, for such a 'situation in ordinary cases can lead only to one result, namely, the closure of the business concern, which may be more detrimental to the workmen. Therefore carrying on with the present scale of fair wages and hoping that the financial ability and stability of the concern will improve, with the result that increased fair wage on an incremental basis may be fixed in future is the only alternative at present even in the interest of the workmen employed in this' concern. We therefore agree with the tribunal that in the circum,stances no case has been made for fixing an incremental scale of wages at the present juncture. The contention this head must therefore be rejected. Re. (ii). As to the canteen workmen, it appears that the canteen is run by the appellant departmentally on a no-profit-no-loss basis. The workmen employed in the canteen are the workmen of the appellant and their number is sixteen or seventeen. The minimum basic wage for unskilled workmen in this concern at the relevant time was Rs. 38 plus Rs. 55 i. e. Rs. 93 ; but the workmen in the canteen get consolidated wages and all of them (except one) get much less than the minimum, the figures varying from Rs. 50 to Rs. 78. The tribunal has held that there is no reason why the conditions of service of the workmen in the canteen should not be brought on a par with the conditions of service of the rest of the workmen. It therefore ordered that the workmen in the canteen would be entitled to the same facilities relating to leave, provident fund, bonus, and gratuity etc. as are available to the other workmen in the chemical works ; but so far as wages and dearness allowance are concerned, it has not given them even the minimum as indicated above. The case of the the appellant was that even if' the minimum was paid to the workmen in the canteen the price of the various food-stuffs supplied by the canteen to the workmen would go up substantially and it was on that ground that the appellant resisted the increase in the wages of those workmen in the canteen who are getting less than the minimum of Rs. 93. The tribunal has held-and we think rightly-that the fact that the bettering of the conditions of service of the workmen in the canteen may lead to a rise in the price of things sold' there is no reason for refusing the demand of the workmen ; but it has not carried into effect fully the implications of this observation. It has ordered that same conditions as to leave facilities etc. should be extended to the canteen workmen but has stopped short of giving them the same wages and dearness allowance. The reason why the tribunal did not give the workmen the same wages and dearness allowance is that there was no satisfactory material before it to permit it to fix wages and dearness allowance for the workmen in the canteen. We are of opinion that there is no reason why the tribunal should not have at least granted the minimum which is paid to the other workmen in the concern to those workmen in the canteen who are getting less than the minimum. We can see no reason for not giving them also the minimum wages as indicated above. This will certainly result in bringing the fifteen workmen who are getting between Its. 50 and Rs. 78 per mensem as consolidated wages into an equal position, for each will then get the minimum, namely,. Rs. 38 plus Rs. 55 and may remove part of the discontent. In the circumstances that is all that can be done in the absence of the material to which the tribunal has referred. Therefore the wages of those fifteen workmen who are getting less than the minimum should be brought to the same level. There is no reason why they should not get such benefits as may be due to them, by their wages being brought to the same minimum as the wages of the other workmen in the concern. We therefore disagree with the tribunal with respect to the workmen employed in the canteen and order that the wages of those workmen who are getting less than the minimum paid to the other workmen in the concern should be brought to the same minimum level. The rest of the award on this head will stand. The minimum wages as above will be paid from the date the tribunal has ordered its award to come into force.

Re. (i).

So fag as dearness allowance is concerned, the tribunal has ordered that the dearness allowance in the chemical works shall be fixed at the same rate as it is in the power house which is a part of the chemical works. It may be mentioned that dearness allowance at the relevant time in the chemical works was Rs. 55 per mensem while in the power house it was Rs. 66 per mensem. The contention on behalf of the appellant in this connection is that the reason why there was this difference 'between the dearness allowance in the power house and in the rest of the chemical works is historical. It is further pointed out that though the difference in the two dearness allowances is Rs. 11 the actual difference in the total wage packet was only Rs. 3 inasmuch as the minimum basic wage in the power house was Rs. 30 while in the chemical works it was Rs. 38 at the relevant time. Thus the minimum that an employee was getting in the power house was Rs. 96 while the minimum for the rest of the workmen was Rs. 93, and it is (1) C.A. 419 of 1960. decided on 1-2-1962.

urged that the difference is not serious. The reason that the tribunal gave for increasing the dearness allowance for the other workmen in the concern was that there was no ground for discriminating between the workmen in the power house and the rest of the workmen. In increasing the dearness allowance on this sole ground the tribunal ignored firstly the historical reason why there was this difference between the dearness allowance for the power house staff and for the rest of the workmen and also ignored the difference in the basic minimum wages in the power house and for the rest of the workmen. It further seems to have ignored its own earlier finding that the chemical works was running at a loss and did not have the financial capacity to bear further burden. As a matter of fact it appears that but for this discrimination which the tribunal found between the rate of dearness allowance for the power house employees and the rest of the workmen it may not have made any change in the dearness allowance payable to the rest of the workmen. It may be mentioned that the system of dearness allowance in the concern is to allow neutralization at the rate of 2-1/2 annas (now 17 nP.) for each point rise over the working class cost of living index treating the base as 100 for the year 1939. It may also be mentioned that since the reference was made there has been a voluntary increase in the dearness allowance for the rest of the workmen at the rate of Rs. 6 per mensem.

The reason why this difference is existing between the rate of dearness allowance for the power house employees and rest of the workmen is that for sometime the power house was integrated with the Swatantra Bharat Mills. Therefore as an integral part of the cotton textile industry the rates of basic wages and dearness allowance in the power house were the same as in the cotton textile business of the company. Thus the rates there at the relevant time were, as we have already said, Rs. 30 basic wage and Rs. 66 dearness allowance. At that time the minimum wage in the chemical works was Rs. 38 basic plus Its. 55 dearness allowance i.e. Rs. 93 in all. It appears however that there was some objection by the Excise Department of the Government as there was a gate between the Swatantra Mills and the chemical works. The Excise Department wanted this gate to be blocked in order to have better control over the excisable articles produced in the chemical works. The appellant therefore had to block up this gate in 1950 and therefore the power house which existed on the chemical works side of this gate was transferred from the Swatantra This to the chemical works. However as the power house workmen were getting the textile rates, the Company assured them that trough they would thereafter be under the control of the chemical works they will be governed for the purposes of pay scales and dearness allowance of I c. by the rule of the Swatantra Mills. It is this circumstance which has resulted in different scales for the power house staff and the rest of the workmen of the chemical works. It further appears that there was some retrenchment in the power in 1957 and the retrenched workmen were absorbed as far as possible in others units. At that time there was an agreement between the Company and the power house workmen and it was agreed that these workmen would be absorbed in other units but they would accept the conditions of service etc. of those units where they were absorbed, with the result that only those who are left in the power house continue on the textile scales of the Swatantra Bharat Mills. These circumstances however were not taken into account by the tribunal at all when it ordered that the power house scale of dearness allowance should be introduced for the rest of the workmen also. The power house scale is really the textile scale and the appellant contended that it would lead to a good deal of complication if the textile scale of dearness allowance is ordered to be introduced for the chemical works. We are of opinion that there is force in this contention raised on behalf of the appellant and the tribunal was not justified in increasing the dearness allowance for the chemical works merely because of this fortuitous circumstance arising out of historical reasons. In any case the number of the power house workmen is very small, say about 30140, who who are getting a different rate of dearness allowance: Further it appears that there was not much difference between the total wage packet for the power house workmen and for the rest and that was another reason why the tribunal should not have introduced the power house scale for the rest of the workmen. It has however been urged on behalf of the respondents that the difference in the basic minimum wages between the power house workmen and the rest of the workmen in the chemical works has disappeared after the recommendations of the Textile Wage Board by which the minimum basic wage for textile workers has been increased by Rs. 8 and it became Rs. 38 from January 1, 1960. Therefore, it is urged that there .is no reason why the tribunal's award with respect to making the dearness allowance for the rest of the workmen the same as the workmen of the power .house should not be allowed to stand. Superficially, this argument looks attractive ; but if one examines it in the light of the Textile Wage Board's recommendations it will be found that the linking of the dearness allowance. for the chemical work's workmen with the power house workmen would lead to endless complications, for the power house workmen would be entitled to the same dearness allowance etc, as would govern the textile workmen in the Swatantra Bharat Mills. The Textile Wage Board report shows that it recommended not only that the basic wage should be increased but also that a large part of the dearness allowance should be merged with basic wage, the remainder alone remaining as dearness allowance. It is submitted on behalf of the appellant that it has carried out the recommendations of the Textile Wage Board and the result of the same has been that the basic wages of the textile workmen which would apply to the power house workmen would be fixed at about Rs. 88 or Rs. 89 and the dearness allowance would be reduced to about Rs. 15. It is urged that the practical linking of the dearness allowance for the rest of the workmen with the dearness allowance in the power house which has been ordered by the tribunal on the ground that there should be no discrimination., would result in endless trouble, apart from the question whether in view of the earlier finding of the tribunal as to the financial. capacity of the appellant it would be possible for the appellant to bear the extra burden of the increased dearness allowance. The operative order of the tribunal is that the workmen of the chemical works, excluding the workmen who are governed by Ex. W/2, should be paid dearness allowance at the rate at which it is being given to the workmen of the power house, and this undoubtedly in our opinion would lead to endless trouble now that the recommendations of the Textile Wage Board will for historical reasons apply to the workmen in the power house.