PLJ 2004 SC 633                                      

[Appellate Jurisdiction]                                             

 

Present: munir A. shiekh; iftikhar muhammad chaudhary and

rana bhagwandas, JJ.                                     

NATIONAL TANKER COMPANY (PVT.) LTD.                       

and another-Appellants                                                

versus                                                           

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN-Respondent                   


C.A. No. 1231 of 1998, decided on 10.12.2003.                            


(On appeal from judgment of High Court of Sindh, Karachi dated 3.3.1998          

passed in C.P. No. 639 of 1995).

Companies Profits (Worker's Participation) Act, 1968-

—S. 3~Constitution of Pakistan (1973), Art. 185--Relief of refund of profits-­
Profits accrued on allocated fund from specific years-Workers claimed
distribution of such funds-High Court was justified in law in not
granting relief of refund of such amount at present on account of non-
compliance of provisions as to constitution of Board of Trustees and
. intimation of their names to government and other formalities, however,
profits accrued on amount is to be paid to workers of appellant company
after compliance with provisions of law-Judgment of High Court was
modified to the extent that on compliance by appellant company with
provisions of the Act of 1968, of Board of Trustees and intimation of the
same to Federal Government amount of profit credited to Government
would be paid to Board of Trustees for distribution to workers of
appellant company-Exact amount of profit in case of dispute would be
worked out between appellant company and Board of trustees on one
hand and Federal Government on the other.                               [P. 635] A

Syed Haider Ali Pirzada, ASC for Appellants.

Mrs. Naheeda Mehboob Ellahi, Standing Counsel with Ch. Akhtar Ali, AOR for Respondent.

Date of hearing: 10.12.2003.

judgment

Munir A. Sheikh, J.-This appeal by leave of the Court is directed against judgment dated 3.3.1998 of the Sindh High Court, Karachi whereby Constitutional petition filed by the appellants has been dismissed.

2.    The dispute relates to the payment of profits accrued on the
amount allocated to each  establishment/company out of the Workers
Welfare Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Fund) constituted under
Section 3 of the Companies Profits (Workers' Participation) Act,  1968
(hereinafter referred to as the Act). The case of the appellants was that
under paragraph 4(d) of the Schedule attached with the Act additional
amount, after payment to the workers from the principal amount of the
Fund, is to be credited to the Government and hundred percent profits
accrued on the total amount was to be distributed among the workers as per
paragraph 10 of the said Schedule.

3.   The appellants claimed that profit accrued on the allocated fund
from 1982-83 to 1989-90 was Rs. 35,45,594/- on account of interest but the
same, instead of distributing among the workers, was wrongly credited to
the Government. A prayer was made in the Constitutional petition for
refund of the said amount to the appejlant.

4.           Learned Judges of the High Court came to the conclusion that
the appellant was guilty of non-compliance with the mandatory provisions of
the Act as to establishment of a Board of Trustees, which was required to be
constituted consisting of two nominees of the  management and two
nominees of the workers. In case there was a C.B.A. of the company
nomination of two representatives of the workers was to be made by the said
C.B.A. and in case there was no C.B.A. representatives of the workers were
to be elected through elections. The company was required to intimate to the
Government names of four members of the Board of Trustees. It is also
required that there should be a Secretary of the Board of Trustees. The said
Board was responsible to distribute the above fund allocated to the
unit/company among the workers and, if any amount so allocated, had been
left out; it was to be credited to the Government. The dispute, as observed
above, is only with regard to the profits accrued on the said allocated fund,
which no doubt under the provisions of the Schedule, was to be distributed
among the workers of the unit/company, to which the fund was allocated
but the same according to the appellants had been credited to the
Government.

5.           The High Court was justified in law in not granting relief of the
refund of the said amount at present on account of non-compliance of the
provisions as to constitution of the Board of Trustees and intimation of their
names to the Government and other, formalities as mentioned in the
judgment under appeal but the fact remains that the amount, profits accrued   ,
on the amount is to be paid to the workers of the company after compliance
with the provisions law.

6.           For the foregoing reasons, this appeal is hereby partly accepted
and the judgment impugned is modified to the extent that on compliance by,
the Appellant No. 1 with the provisions of the Act of constitution of the
Board of Trustees, as pointed 'out in the impugned judgment on the High
Court and intimation to the Federal Government, the amount of profit
credited to the Government shall be paid to the said Board of Trustees for
distribution to the workers of the Appellant No. 1-Company. As to what is
the exact amount of profit, if there is a dispute, the same shall be settled ,
between the Appellant No. 1 and Board of Trustees on the one hand and
Federal Government on the hand, after going through the relevant record
and accounts. There shall be no order as to costs.                                         


(A.A.)                                                                       Appeal partly accepted