Labour Inspector, Central v. The Chittapore Stone Quarrying Co. (P) Ltd. & Ors.

Palekar, J. Mathew, J. delivered a dissenting opinion.

Palekar, J. This appeal by certificate granted !Jy the High Court of Mysore raises an interesting point as to whether quarrying of Shahabad stone is an activity which could be pro-perly described as "stone breaking or stone crushing" mentioned in the Schedule to The Minimum Wages, Act. 1948.

By notification issued by the Appropriate Government under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 minimum wages were fixed for those employed in stone breaking or stone crushing in Gulbarga District. The appellant Inspector was of the view that respon-dent no. 1 Chittapore Stonequarrying Company (Pvt.) Ltd .. Chittapur which was quarrying a variety of stone calle,d Shahabad Stone in Chittapur, District Gulbarga, was engaged in the activity of stone breaking and stone crushing, and since respondent no. 1 was in breach of some of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and the rules made thereunder he adopted proceedings to enforce the provisions in the court of the Munsif Magistrate, Chittapur, respondent no. 3. Respondent no. 1 thereupon filed a writ petition for 'quashing the proceedings (Writ Petition No. II 1860 of 1965) in the Mysore High Court alleging, inter a/ia, that the provisions of the Minimum Wag~s Act did not apply to the particular activity in which it was engaged because, in its submis- ~ion, the activity was not one of stone breaking or stone crushing r (Palekar, J.)

but of mining. limestone slabs. Th~ Higl;i Court held that the pro-cess of removmg Shahabad stone mvolved breaking and crushing but it was also of the view that what was broken or crushed was not re~lly 'stone'. but a ~ubs~ance which very nearly approximated to a mmeral. In that view 1t quashed the proceedings before t!ie Munsif Magistrate.

The activity in which respondent no. 1 is engaged is described as follows :

"The earth which varies in depth from place to place over the limestone layers is removed by manual labour. This work of removing the .soil is known as earth-work. The thin limestone layers from which the flooring stones are cut into regular sizes and which is the main object of mining by us are reach.ed after removing some thick layer of limestone over these thin layers. The removal of the overburden of earth and thick layers of lime-- stone is incidental to the mining operations conducted by us. The main operation of our mining is to bare open the thin layers of limestone and cut them into regular sizes. It is submitted that no stone breaking or stone crushing operations are carried on in our mines."

J'he question is whether the operation described above can be appropriately described as stone breaking or stone crushing.

The object of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, as is well-known, is to provide minimum rates of wages in certain employ-ments. Section 2(g) defines "scheduled employment" as "an employment specified in the Schedule, or any process or branch of work forming part of S.llCh employment". The Schedule has two parts and item no. 8 in part no. 1 refers to employment in stone breaking or stone crushing. The Act, therefore, provides that where the appropriate Government fixes by notification a minimum wage to be paid to those who are employed on stone-breaking or stone-crushing the employees will have to be paid the minimum wage so fixed. It was the appellant's case that such a notification is in operation in Gulbarga District of Mysore State and since the respondent no. 1 was engaged in the activity of stone-breaking and stone-crushing in which workers have been employed the respondent was liable to pay minimum wages, as fixed.

There is no definition of stone-breaking or stone-crushing in the Act But we know what that activity is in the common par-lance of the buisness and commercial world. It appears to us that it will be a futile exercise in semantice to try to explore what the content of a stone is-whether it is a mineral or not, or whether it is so called when it is obtained in open quarries or sub-terranean mines or whether breaking or crushing would also include cutting in dimensional forms. In the common acceptance of the busines.s and commercial world, stone-breaking and stone-crushing is a commercial activity in which stone, in the sense of .c_ommon rock, is reduced to fragments by mechanical means such fragments being marketed or used for profit. In. this connection reference may be made to Madhya Pradesh Mineral . Industry Association v. The Regional Labour Commissioner Jabalpur and . others(') and to the following observations therein at page 485..

"The word "stone" as popularly understood in ordi-nary parlance particularly when it is coupled with the word "breaking" or "crushing" would exclude manga-nese. When we speak of stone-breaking or stone- .. crushing normally we refer to stone in the ·sense of

"piece of rock," ancr that would exclude manganese. Employment in stone-breaking or stone-crushing in this . sense "'.ould refer· to quarry operations." .

Information e~tracied from 'ilie Encyclopaedia Britan~ica under the words "stone" and "quarrying", shows that common rock which is' commercially exploited falls brciac!ly two categories, one igneous, like granite, and the other sedimentary, like limestone. These rocks undergo a-qualitative ·change under. tremendous .mountain pressures and then they are known· as ·.metamorphic . . Limestone, for example, '. . becomes marble. .. ,

' . . .. •.. , ' -·

All the above· categories of rocks· are generally found in two varieties-stratified and nonstratified: · When rock. is found in thin layers one over the other,' it is known as stratified. · Where it is not so found, it is non-stratified. · Commercial exploitation of. these two varieties is distinct. ·Non-stratified rock, which is found in abundance in quarries or otherwise, yields to profitable exploi-tation by breaking and crushing into smaller irregular fragments. The rarer stratified stone is much more valuable as it is found in _, layers which are skilfully removed to give large dimensional slabs .. In the first case there is generally blasting with the help of explo- . sives. In the second blasting is avoided as it will cause demag,e ;J to the layers. · The end product in both is used for construction mostly in buildings and roads. ·In limestone, as in all stone, suit-able stratified layers are commercially exploited for dimensional quarrying by a very skilful process. The product namely the slab after being polished is used for flooring; facing and the like. Quarrying of Shahabad,stone ~ith which we _are concerned' is ~f this type. The other kind of limestone, that 1s to say, non-stratl-fied limestone is suitable for being broken and crushed into smaller fragments and rt has its commercial use in building construction. (Mathew, .I.) manufacture of cement and the like. Stor:e-breaking and stone-crushing in relation to limestone is, therefore, that activity in which non-stratified limestone, recognised as rock, is broken or crushed into irregular fragments or sizes-and then marketed or otherwise used. The more valuable and rarer stratified limestone which is suitable for use as dimension stone is not the stone com-mercially exploited for breaking and crushing. Hence the employ-ment of quarrying Shahabad stone is not the same as the scheduled employment of stone breaking or stone crushing referred to in item 8 of the Schedule to the Minimum Wages Act. Consequently the minimum wages fixed for the employment of stone-breaking and stone-crushing will not apply to the operation of quarrying Shahabad stone which is the main activity of respondent no. 1. The High Court was, therefure, right in quashing the pr~ee?ings under the Minimum Wages Act and the appeal must be d1sm1ssed. The appellant shall pay the costs of respondent no. 1.

Mathew, J. The facts have already been stated. It is, therefore, unnecessary to rehearse them.

The question for consideration is whether Shahabad stone is 'stone' within the meaning of that expression in item No. 8 in part 1 of the schedule and whether employment in quarrying Shahabad stone is "employment in stone-breaking .. or stone-crush-ing" within the meaning of the said item No. 8.

In the affidavit in support of the writ petition the nature of the work involved in quarrying Shahabad stone i; described as follows:-

"The earth which varies in depth from place to place over the limestone layers is removed by manual labo~r. . . The thin limestone layers from which the floormg stones are cut into regular sizes and which is the main ob!ect of mining ~y us, are reached after removing some thick layers. of limestone over these thin layers. The removal of the overburden of earth and thick layers of limestone is incidental to the mining operations con-ducted by us. The main operation of our mining is to bare open the thin layers of limestone and to cut them into regular sizes . . . . "

The High Court was of the view that the word 'stone' occur-ring in item No. 8 has to be understood as a piece o: ordinary rock and that. Sh.ahabad stone ca~not be regarded as the ordinary rock. of the d1~tnct but an except10nal substance with exceptional qu~hty about 1t and, therefore, it is not 'stone' within the meaning of item No. 8 of the schedule.

h Madhya Pradesh Mining Industry Association v. The Regio-nal Labour Commissioner, Jabalpur and Others(!) this Court said :

"In a chemical or ge9logical sense stones may include manganese and that is one of the meanings given to the word in the Shorter Oxford Dictionary. On the other hand, the word '$(One' as popularly understood in ordi-nary parlance. particularly when it is coupled with the word "breaking" or "crushing" would exclude m;mga-nese. When we speak of stone:breaking or stone-crushing normally we refer to stone in the sense of 'piece of rock' and that would exclude manganese. Employment in stone-breaking or stone-crushing in this sense would refer to quarry operations .. "

Therefore, the word 'stone' in item No. 8 must be taken as used in the sense of a pi5!ce of rock; the question then is whether Shaha-bad stone is 'stone' in that sense for the purpose of item No. 8. Shahabad stone is nothing but limestone. The companies which have been quarrying and selling these limestone slabs manufacture 4 different varieties which are used as building material for floor-ing, roofing, etc. (see. B. Rama Rao, Mineral Resources of Bidar, Gulbarga and Raichur Districts, published in Bulletin No. 23 of Department of Mines and Geology, Bangalore, 1964, p. 51).

· Rocks are of three kinds; igneous, sedimentary and metamor-phic. Limestone is a principal kind of sedimentary rock (see Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 10, pp. 163-165). 'Stone' for the purpose of item No. 8 will include limestone :

"Stone, as the word is most generally used, is a piece of rock or of the solid crust of the earth, and hence of natural origin and generally of inorganic com-position . . . . Kinds of stones or rocks are distinguished by prefixes e.g., limestone, sandstone, ...... "

(See Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 21, p. 436).

But it is said that rocks are generally found in two varieties-stratified and non-stratified-, that when rock is found . in thin layers one over the other, it is known as stratified and where it is not so found, it is non-stratified. It is also said that non-stratified rock which is found in abundance in quarries or otherwise, yields to profitable exploitation by breaking and crushing into smaller irregular fragments and that stratified stone is much more valuable as it is found in layers which are skilfully removed to give large dimensional slabs. I am unable to see any distinction between stone obtained by crushing or breaking of non-stratified rock and

(1)[1960] 3 S.C.P. 476 at p. 485.

(Mathew, /.) that obtained by cutting stratified rock, for the purpose of constru-ing the word ·stone' in item No. 8 as stone obtained in both the cases is a piece of rock.

In Madhya Pradesh Minmg Industry Association v. The Regio-nal Labour Commissioner, Jabalpur('), the mining operation was for extraction of manganese ore and the process consisted of removal of over-burden, breaking of big mineral stones like boulder to get at manganese. On these facts, the Court held that stone-breaking or crushing was incidental to the extraction of man-ganese. The Court fur1her said that the operation of stone-break-ing or stone-crushing referred to in item No. 8 of pan I of the schedule must refer to the main operation in the process and not to the incidental operation. The question whether a particular operation is main or incidental, therefore, arose for consideration in respect of the mining operation itself. It is obvious that the paragraph in the affidavit i~ support of the writ petition which has already been extractt:d was inserted with an eye to bring the case within the ambit of this ruling. But here, the limestone itself is extracted for the purpose of being used as building material for flooring and roofing. TJ{e operation of quarrying limestone, therefore, is not an incidental purpose but the main purpose itself.

In Ray L!mestone and Co. & another v. Sub-Divisional Officer Ranchi('), the Court was concerned with the question whether quarrying operation for extracting limestone would involve employment in stone-breaking and stone-crushing within the mean-ing of item 8. The Court held that quarrying of limestone in-volved stone-breaking or stone-crushing and that employment in the quarry would attract item No. 8 of the schedule.

But counsel for the 1st respondent contended that quarrying operation in extracting limestone does not involve stone-breaking or stone-crushing. He contended that only a restricted meaning can be given to the world "stone-breaking'', that breaking a piece according to size from a large block of rock bv a sharp weapon would rot be "stone-breaking" or "stone-crushing", and that it is only when rock is blown up by a dynamite or broken by a sledge hammer or other blunt instrument that the process can be called "stone-breaking" or "stone-crushing''.. In other words, the con-tention was, if rock is broken to pieces by cutting with a sharp weapon. that would not involve "stone-breaking" or "stone-crush-ing''. This, I think, is too metaphysical a distinction to be import-ed in the construction of item 8 of the schedule. Looking at the object of the Act, I do not think that the distinction between cut-ting rock into pieces by a sharp instrument and breaking it into

(I) [1960] 9 S.C.R. 476. (2) A.1.R. 1968 Patna 39.

7-1208Sup.CI/72 pieces by an instrument Hke a hammer, though fine from a meti-culous linguistic stand-point would be rational from the purposive approach. Both processes involve "stone-breaking''. I agree with the High Court when it said :

" ...... we do not see why stripping open thin layers of Shahabad stdne and cutting them to regular si~es, which are the main operations, should not be regarded as stone-breaking or stone-crushing in a quarry so as to bring it within the ambit of item 8 in the schedule. Con-sequently, we are unable to accept the contention of Mr. Breenivasa Murty that no stone-breaking or stonc-crushing operations are involved iii quarrying of Shaha- ' bad stones or that such operations are incidental and not the main operations ... "

In State of Maharashtra v. Mohan/a/ Devichand Shah(!) Sikri J. as he then was, speaking for the Court, quoted with appro-val the following passage from Madhya Pradesh Mineral Industry Association v. The Regional Labour Commissioner, Jaba/pur( 2 ). "When we speak of stone-breaking or stone-crushing normally we refer to stone in the sense of "piece of rock" and that would exclude manganese. Employment in stone-breaking or stone-crushing in this sense would refer to quarry operationJ."

and said that :

"This Court thus read Entry 8 (item 8) to refer to quarry operations ... "

"Quarry" is defined in Venkataramaiya's Law Lexicon, Vol. II; 1971 Ed., p. 1322, as follows:-

"As a noun the term 'quarry' has been defined as the spot where rock is quarried. . . . an excavation or other place from which stone is taken by cutting, blasting or the like . . . It is open excavation usually (or ot>taining building stone, slate or limestone .... "

In Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, p. 1636, the meaning of 'quarry' is given as hereunder :-

"An excavation from which stone for building, etc., is obtained by cutting, blasting or the like".

When this Court said that employment in stone·breaking or stone-crushing would refer to "quarry operation" this Court was fully alive to the process involved in quarrying operation. That (Mathew, I.) the operation involves the extraction of limestone by cutting also is clear from the definition of quarry.

J, therefore, come to the conclusion that employment in quarrying operation for extraction of Shahabad stone is employ-ment within the ambit of item 8 of Part I o.f the Schedule. I .B would allow the appeal and dismiss the. writ petition without any

order as to costs.

ORDER

In accordance with the judgment of the majority, the appeal is dismissed. The appellant shall pay the costs of respondent No. 1.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 40 of 1968.

Appeal from the judgm<'!lt and order dated July 25, 1967 of the Mysore High Court in Writ Petition No. 1860 of 1965.

R. H. Dhebar, for the appellant.

K. Srinivasamur~hy and Naunit L,al, for respondent No. 1. R. B. Datar, for respondent No. 2.

bf The Judgment of Vaidialingam and Palekar, JJ. was delivered