Kirloskar
Brothers Ltd. v. Employees State Insurance Corp., 1996





Facts



The appellant of the case was Kirloskar Brothers Limited, which had its registered office
in Maharashtra and regional offices in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In response
to the requirement of the appellant’s share for the workmen’s health insurance under
section 3(9) of the Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948 of Employees’ State
Insurance Corporation, Kirloskar Brothers Limited filed a petition in the Supreme
Court under Article 136 of the Indian Constitution for the issue of whether
the stated act is applicable to the respective regional offices. However,
before filing a petition to the apex court of the country, Kirloskar Brothers
Limited had appealed to the Insurance Court, where it had been held that the
regional offices come under the jurisdiction of the stated act and therefore
the appellant is to pay their share as per the requirement of section 3(9)
of the Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948. This verdict was upheld by the High
Courts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. With the help of Article 136 of the
Constitution (Special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court), the appellant appealed
to the Supreme Court of India.






Judgment



In
order to give the judgment to this case, Honorable Supreme Court considered two
different aspects. The first one was regarding the responsibility of the
employers to provide aid to the employees in certain situations such as
sickness, maternity, permanent and temporary disablement as a result of
employment injury. The second one was regarding the state’s responsibility to
secure the health of the workers. The initial aspect is to be secured by the Employees’
State Insurance Act 1948, whereas the later aspect is to be said as secured by
the Indian Constitution through the Directive Principles of State Policy.


After
establishing the interrelations between the Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948
and the Constitutional duty of the states, it was held by the court that being
a part of the welfare society, the private sector companies are required to
keep an eye on the safety and health facilities of the employees. Furthermore,
this duty had been held as a constitutional mandate for the employers.


The
Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948 was referred to as the link between the duty
of the states and the rights of the workers and after considering this fact, it
was held that the respective regional offices of a company are also required to
contribute the share of health insurance of the employees.