Government of India. Court of Enquiry Constituted under the Trade Disputes Act 1929 to investigate the question of dearness allowance for railway employees. Report

To see if the matter could be carried a step further we considered the following facts :- (a) The Federation's application (Appendix IV) of April 6 1940 (for the constitution of a Board of Conciliation) described the dispute which had arisen between the Federation and the Railway Board thus : Since the outbreak of the war the prices of various commdities began to rise rapidly and by December [...] The next question raised related to the meaning of the opeing words of the second term of reference : Having regard to the previous movements in wages and prices does the rise since the outbreak of war establish a case for a war allowance for the lower paid staff ?" Did this mean " Having regard only to the previous movements in wages and prices etc."? [...] Are we under this term of reference rquired to compare the cost of living since the outbreak of war with the cost of living immediately before the war that is to say in August 1939 or are we required to compare it with the normal cost of living before the war ? The result of the comparison might be materially different in the two cases because in some areas at least August 1939 was an e [...] All the enquiries were set on foot for the purpose of ascertaining the true facts of the cost of living and the sujects of primary investigation were the size and earnings of famlies the cost and consumption of food fuel and lighting clothing miscellaneous articles. [...] The argument may be briefly put thus : It may be true that the above figures set out quite correctly the rise in the general cost of living since the outbreak of the war but the whole of that rise cannot be attributed to the war.