Bombay Dyeing And Manufacturing ... vs R.A. Bidoo And Another on 19 June, 1989
34] Again, in the case of All India Reserve Bank
Employees' Association and anr. vs. Reserve Bank of
India and anr. - AIR 1966 SC 305, the Hon'ble Supreme
Court has held that the word "supervise" and its derivatives
are not of precise import. The word must often be construed
in the light of the context, for unless controlled, they cover
an easily simple oversight and direction as manual work
coupled with a power of inspection and superintendence of
the manual work of the others. The question whether a
particular workman is a supervisor within or without the
definition of workman is ultimately one of fact, at best one
of mixed fact and law. The question will really depend upon
the nature of the industry the type of work in which he is
engaged the organisational set up of the particular unit of
industry and like factor. The work in a Bank invovles layer
upon layer of checkers and checking is hardly supervision.
Where however, there is a power of assigning duties and
distribution of work there is supervision. Mere checking of
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the work of others is not enough because this checking is a
part of accounting and not of supervision. The work done in
the audit department of a bank is not supervision.
35] In Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company
Ltd. vs. R.A. Bidoo and anr. - 1990 (1) LLJ 98, the
Division Bench of this court has held that supervision of
plant or machines does not make that work supervisory.
Supervision as correctly understood does not extend to
supervision of plant or machinery. A person may check
whether a machine is working properly or not, but that does
not by any stretch of imagination make him a Supervisor.
He is only finding out whether the machine is in working
condition, and if it is not in a working condition, to see that
it is put in a working condition. This cannot be called
supervision at all. Supervision means supervision over men
and not over machines.