Paper Released: 02:30pm, 08/04/2022

Submission Deadline: 05:00PM on 12/04/2022

MID-TERM EXAMINATION QUESTION PAPER (25 Marks)

BBA LL.B 2018

Q uestion 1: In 2015, the 5,000-odd women tea plantation workers started a sit-in strike
in Munnar (Kerala). The management of Kannan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) Ltd.
was forced to close down all its factories after the agitation cut off supply of tea leaves.
The agitation had begun after the management decided to cut workers’ bonus from 20 per cent
to 10, due to the plummeting fortunes of the tea industry in the previous year. Currently, the
13,000 workers on KDHP’s muster rolls, most of them women engaged in plucking tea leaves.
The women workers were mainly procured by contractors from the neighbouring state of Tamil
Nadu. The workers also raised the issue of daily wages and conditions of work. The basic daily
pay of an estate worker engaged in plucking tea leaves is Rs 80 to 85. With all benefits, it
comes to Rs. 231. A worker has to pluck 21 kg of leaves a day to get that pay, plus Rs 1.50 for
every extra kilogram of output. On the contrary, estate supervisors get Rs. 4 each, staff
members Rs. 6 each and managers Rs. 10 each on every extra kilogram plucked by the worker.
The pay was decided by the management. The allocation of tea workers was charted by the
management. There were supervisors who weighed and sorted the plucked leaves in the end of
the day from the workers. The contractors used to pay daily wages in the end of the day. The
KDHP allotted one room houses/quarters for the workers in the estate. There was also school
run by the company for the children of workers. The education was free for kids; however, it
was on a first come first serve basis. The strike in KDHP also hit the Kannan Devan Tea Factory
(KDFT) which relied on KDHP for tea leaves. The management of these two establishments
are the same. KDFT is located 5 miles away from the plantations (KDHP). There were 50
workers who were involved in the process of production of tea dust and a separate team looked
after the marketing of the Kannan Devan Tea. Sometimes, the management used the workers
in the KDHP to work in KDFT. Both of these workers used the same canteen. Due to close
down of KDHP, around 30 of the KDFT workers were terminated from the services alleging
breach of contract and without any notice or enquiry. The allegation was that they took part in
the strike and they were responsible for the damages for not working as the company lost 50
Lakh during the strike. The dispute was referred by the government to a Labour Court.
However, a preliminary objection was raised by the Management that the KDHP women
workers were not their worker but independent contractors. Secondly, Management’s
contention on imposition of fine was challenged by the KDFT workers too. You need to decide
on the Preliminary issue (question of KDHP worker) as well as the termination and further
compensation claimed by management of KDFT workers.

1. Decide if KDHP tea workers qualify the definition of “worker” under the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947/Industrial Relations Code 2020. Substantiate your answer with
relevant case laws. What is the nature of employment of KDHP workers?(Marks 10)
2. Was the termination of KDFT Workers valid? Decide if the KDFT workers are liable
to pay compensation or not. Substantiate using relevant case laws. (Marks 10).

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 Paper Released: 02:30pm, 08/04/2022
Submission Deadline: 05:00PM on 12/04/2022

Q uestion 2: Lekshmi, Dharampal, Shalini and Savitri were house-keeping staffs at

Bobby Franco’s house in Gurgaon. They worked from 6am till 8pm at BOBBY VILLA
(Bobby’s house). All these workers were paid below minimum wage and was treated
inhumanly by Bobby Franco and his family. They tried negotiating with Bobby Franco for
better wages and working conditions. Later on, they asked their union, the Sanitation Staff and
Domestic Help Workers Union (SSDHU) to talk to Bobby Franco. SSDHU set up a venue and
time for meeting. However, Bobby Franco refused to attend the meeting. Later on, he fired all
four workers without any notice or pay. What is the remedy available for these four workers.
(5 marks)

Instructions:

• Two mandatory questions are there. You are supposed to answer both the questions/
• While answering questions please try to incorporate the evolution, process, updates of
the said provisions.
• You are not barred from using the case laws that has been discussed in the class,
however, the essence of a take home exam rests on exploring the topic beyond the
limited class discussions. So, I would advise you to go beyond the discussions that we
had in our class.
• As you were being trained in analysing the case laws, same kind of research is expected
from you in this question.
• There are multiple case laws that had indeed been brought before the court to explore
the above-mentioned situation. One need to see the impact of the rational used in
precedents. Are you in sync with that rational? If not, then ask the second question,
what can be an alternative. Young minds explore more than the experienced, they are
fresh and their thoughts are not fortified by the existing literature. This helps them to
see facts from a fresh perspective, I would suggest you all to break the barriers of
existing thoughts to see if an alternative is possible in the case of interpretation and
implementation of provisions.
• Please don’t forget to cite. It’s the first rule of research.
• You may rely on case laws/literature/provisions for the analysis.
• Word limit is 1500- 2000.
• Foot noting should not be descriptive. That means you should not add
detailed/substantive notes/ discursive notes in footnotes.
• You can use any style for citation.
• Submission deadline: 1700hrs (05:00pm) on 12/04/2022
• Mode of submission: Through Turnitin (Details will be shared on 11/04/2022)
• Marks will be released after May 20/2022