India, July 23 -- The Calcutta High Court has upheld the rejection of a long-pending demand by workers of the Kolkata, Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh mints for a 19 per cent salary hike linked to an increase in weekly working hours from 37.5 to 44 hours, holding that they had no enforceable right to claim the additional benefit. A Division Bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay dismissed the workers' appeal, affirming the National Industrial Tribunal's award and an earlier single-judge order. The dispute arose after successive Pay Commissions recommended a 44-hour work week. During negotiations in 1998, mint management agreed to place the workers' demand for a 19 per cent salary hike before the Department of Expenditure for "favourable consideration".
The department later rejected the proposal, triggering the industrial dispute after conciliation efforts failed. The Bench held that "favourable consideration" required the government only to examine the demand fairly and in good faith and did not amount to a promise of a 19 per cent hike. It also held that the general managers had no authority to bind the Union Government on such a financial decision. The court ruled that the settlement reached during conciliation was legally binding. Having accepted revised pay scales under the Pay Commissions while agreeing to work 44 hours a week, the workers could not seek to enforce only the proposed 19 per cent hike while rejecting the corresponding obligation. Observing that the Factories Act permits up to 48 working hours a week, the Bench said a 44-hour work week was lawful.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.