Arijit Banerjee, J.:— In this writ application, petitioners basically claim enforcement of a memorandum of agreement entered into by and between the majority union of the petitioners and the Administration pertaining to terms and conditions of employment of crew members employed on board Administration's passengercum-cargo vessels of foreshore sector in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in particular the clause of the said agreement relating to overtime allowance (OTA). The agreement records that all categories of crew men shall be paid overtime allowance for fixed overtime hours as mentioned below:
“9. OTA Allowance:
All the categories of crew men shall be paid OT Allowance for fixed OTA hrs as mentioned below:
YearTotal fixed hrs of OT2008-2010215 hrs2010-2012240 hrs2012-2014240 hrs
The formula for calculating the OT is mentioned below:
Basic wages × 1.5 × 12 × No of hours/44 × 52
2. Learned counsel for the Administration submits that some of the petitioners have not been on board to perform their duties and some others have put in very little overtime service, e.g, 100 hours and in one case only 7 hours. In any event, according to him, none of the petitioners have completed 240 hours of overtime service. Hence, according to him, the prayer of the petitioners should not be allowed. The submission made by Mr. Mishra, learned counsel is disputed by Mr. Binnu Kumar appearing for the petitioners.
3. In my opinion, the aforesaid agreement is binding on the parties who have appended their signatures on the agreement with open eyes. In so far as overtime allowance is concerned, the aforesaid agreement stipulates that irrespective of the actual overtime worked by a seaman, he shall get overtime allowance for 215 hours in a month for the year 2008-2010 and fixed overtime allowance for 240 hours for the years 2010-2012 and 2012-2014. Even if a seaman works overtime more than the hours stipulated in the agreement, he will get fixed allowance and not more. Similarly, even if a seaman has worked less overtime than the stipulated period, he shall still get the fixed overtime allowance as per the agreement. This should be an equitable interpretation of the agreement.
4. Accordingly, there shall be an order in terms of prayer ‘A’ of the writ petition.
5. The admissible overtime allowance shall be paid by the Administration to the petitioners within a period of two months from the date of communication of a certified copy of this order.
6. W.P No. 277 of 2015 is, accordingly, disposed of.