Company : Sol Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Website : www.courtkutchehry.com WORKING JOURNALISTS (CONDITIONS OF SERVICE) AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RULES, 1957 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 :- Preliminary 1. Short title 2. Definitions CHAPTER 2 :- Gratuity 3. Payment of gratuity. 4. Gratuity due to a deceased working journalist-To whom payable. 5. Nominations 6. Deductions from gratuity CHAPTER 3 :- Hours of Work 7. Special provisions regarding editors, etc 8. Normal working day 9. Interval for rest 10. Compensation for overtime work 11. Conditions governing night shifts 12. Interval preceding change of shift CHAPTER 4 :- Holidays 13. Number of holidays in a year 14. Compensatory holidays 15. Wages for holidays 16. Wages for weekly day of rest. CHAPTER 5 :- Leave 17. Competent officers 18. Application for leave 19. Recording of reason for refusal or postponement of leave 20. Affixing of holidays to leave. 21. Holidays intervening during period of leave. 22. Recall before expiry of leave 23. Production of medical certificate of fitness before resump- tion of duty 24. Designation of authorized medical practitioner 25. Earned leave 26. Wages during earned leave 27. Cash compensation for earned leave not availed of 28. Leave on medical certificate. 29. Maternity leave 30. Quarantine leave 31. Extraordinary leave 32. Leave not due 33. Study leave 34. Casual leave 35. Wages during casual leave 35A. Manner of giving notice under Sec. 12 of the Act. CHAPTER 6 :- Miscellaneous 36. Application under Sec. 17 of the Act 37. Maintenance of registers, record and muster-rolls 38. Effect of rules and agreements Inconsistent with those rules WORKING JOURNALISTS (CONDITIONS OF SERVICE) AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RULES, 1957 11 . Published in Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Pt. II, Sec. 3, dated 27th May, 1957, p. 7281. S.R.O. 1737, dated the 23rd May, 1957.-In exercise of the powers conferred by Sec. 29 of the Working Journalists (Conditions of Service ) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (45 of 1955) the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely : CHAPTER 1 Preliminary 1. Short title :- These rules may be called the Working Journalists (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Rules, 1957. 2. Definitions :- In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) "Act" means the Working Journalists (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (45 of 1955); (f) "form" means a form appended to these rules; (g) "leave" means earned leave, leave on medical certificate, maternity leave, extraordinary, leave not due, casual leave, study leave or quarantine leave; (j) "leave not due" means leave which is not due to a working journalist but which may be granted to him in anticipation of its being earned subsequently; (k) "quarantine leave" means leave of absence from duty by reason of the presence of an infectious disease in the family or household of a working journalist; (l) "study leave" means leave granted to a working journalist to enable him to undergo any special course of training which may be of use to him in his journalistic career; and (m) "shifts"-"day shift" means a shift when any hours of work of the shift do not fall between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m; "night shift" means a shift when any hours of work fall between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 p.m. CHAPTER 2 Gratuity 3. Payment of gratuity. :- Gratuity shall be paid to a working journalist or in the case of his death, his nominee or nominees or, if there is no nomination in force at the time of the death of the working journalist, his family, as soon as possible after it becomes due and in any case not later than three months.] 4. Gratuity due to a deceased working journalist-To whom payable. :- On death of a working journalist- (b) if no nomination subsists or if that nomination relates only to a part of the gratuity; the amount of the gratuity or the part thereof to which the nomination does not relate, as the case may be, shall be paid to his family.] 5. Nominations :- 6. Deductions from gratuity :- The gratuity will be subject to deduc- tions on account of overpayments made to a working journalist by the newspaper establishment liable to pay such gratuity and moneys borrowed by the working journalist from such newspaper establishment. CHAPTER 3 Hours of Work 7. Special provisions regarding editors, etc :- (1) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to editors, or to correspondents, reporters or news photographers. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1) the following provisions shall apply to every correspondent, reporter or news photographer stationed at the place at which the newspaper (in relation to which any such person is employed), namely: (b) Any period of work in excess of thirty-six hours during any week (which shall be considered as a unit of work for the purposes of this sub- rule) shall be compensated by rest during the succeeding week and shall be given in one or more spells of not less than three hours each : Provided that where the aggregate of the excess hours worked falls short of three hours, the duration of rest shall be limited only to such excess. 8. Normal working day :- The number of hours which shall constitute a normal working day for a working journalist exclusive of the time for meals shall exceed six hours per day in the case of a day. shift and five and a half hours per day in the case of a night shift and no working journalist shall ordinarily be required or allowed to work for longer than the number of hours constituting a normal working day. 9. Interval for rest :- Subject to such agreement as may be arrived at between a newspaper establishment and working journalists employed in that establishment the periods of work for working journalist shall be so fixed that no working journalist shall work for more than four hours in the case of day shift and three hours in the case of night shift before he had an interval of rest, in the case of day shift for one hour, and in the case of night shift for half an hour. 10. Compensation for overtime work :- When a working journalist works for more than six hours on any day in the case of a day shift and more than five and a half-hours in the case of a night shift, he shall, in respect of that overtime work, be compensated in the form of hours of rest equal in number to the hours for which he has worked overtime. 11. Conditions governing night shifts :- No working journalist shall be employed on a night shift continuously for more than one week at a time or for more than one week in any period of fourteen days : Provided that, subject to the previous approval of the State Labour Commissioner or any authority appointed by the State Government in this behalf, the limit prescribed in this rule may be exceeded where special circumstances so require. 12. Interval preceding change of shift :- In the case of change of shift from night to day shift or vice versa, there shall be an interval of not less than twenty-four consecutive hours between the two shifts and in the case of a Change from one day shift to another day shift or from one right shift to another night shift there shall be interval of not less than twelve consecutive hours: Provided that no such interval may be allowed if such interval either coincides with or falls within, the interval enjoyed by a working journalist under sub-section (2) of Section 6 of the Act. CHAPTER 4 Holidays 13. Number of holidays in a year :- A working joumalist shall be entitled to ten holidays in a calendar year. 14. Compensatory holidays :- If a working joumalist is required to attend on a holiday, a compensatory holiday shall be given to him, within thirty days immediately following the holiday, on a day mutually agreed upon by him - and his employer. 15. Wages for holidays :- A working journalist shall be entitled to wages on all holidays as if he was on duty. 16. Wages for weekly day of rest. :- A working journalist shall be entitled to wages for the weekly day of rest as if he was on duty. CHAPTER 5 Leave 17. Competent officers :- Every newspaper establishment may designate one or more officers in that establishment as competent officers for the purposes of this chapter. 18. Application for leave :- (1) A working journalist who desires to obtain leave of absence shall apply in writing to the competent officer. (2) Application for leave, other than casual leave, leave on medical certificate and quarantine leave, shall be made not less than one month before the date of commencement of leave, except in urgent o.r unforseen circumstances. 19. Recording of reason for refusal or postponement of leave :- If leave Is refused or postponed, the competent officer shall record the reasons for such refusal or postponement, as the case may be, and send a copy of the order to the working journalst. 20. Affixing of holidays to leave. :- Holidays, other than weekly days of rest, shall not be prefixed or suffixed to any leave without the prior sanction of the competent officer. 21. Holidays intervening during period of leave. :- A holiday including a weekly rest day, intervening during any leave granted under these rules, shall form part of the period of leave. 22. Recall before expiry of leave :- (1) A newspaper establishment may recall a working Journalist on leave if that establishment considers it necessary to do so. In the event of such recall such working journalist shall be entitled to travelling allowance if at the time of recall he is spending his leave at a place other than his headquarters. (2) The travelling allowance which shall be paid to a working journalist under sub-rule (1) shall be determined in accordance with the rules of the newspaper establishment governing travelling allowance for journeys undertaken by the working journalists in the course of their duties. 23. Production of medical certificate of fitness before resump- tion of duty :- A working journalist who has availed himself of leave for reasons of health may, before he resumes duty, be required by his employer t o produce a medical certificate of fitness from an authorized medical practitioner, or the medical officer who issued the medical certificate under sub-rule (2) of Rule 28] 24. Designation of authorized medical practitioner :- Every news- paper establishment may designate one or more registered medical practitioners as authorized medical practitioners for the purposes of these rules. 25. Earned leave :- (1) A working journalist shall be entitled to earned leave on full wages for a period not less than one month for every eleven months spent on duty: Provided that he shall cease to earn such leave when the earned leave due amounts to ninety days. (2) The period spent on duty shall include the weekly days of rest, holidays, casual leave and quarantine leave. 26. Wages during earned leave :- A working journalist on earned leave shall draw wages equal to .his average monthly wages earned during the period of twelve complete months spent on duty, or if the period is less than twelve complete months, during the entire such period, immediately preceding the month in which the leave commences. 27. Cash compensation for earned leave not availed of :- (1) When a working journalist voluntarily relinquishes his post or retires from service on reaching the age of superannuation, he shall be entitled to cash compensation for earned leave not availed of up to a maximum of thirty days Provided that a working journalist who has been refused earned leave due to him shall be entitled to get cash compensation for the earned leave so refused : Provided further that in the case of a working Journalist who dies while in service and who has not availed himself of the earned leave due to him immediately preceding the date of his death, his heirs shall be entitled to cash compensation for the leave not so availed of. (2) When a working jounalist's services are terminated for any reason whatsoever, other than as punishment inflicted by way of disciplinary action, he shall be entitled to cash compensation for earned leave not availed of up to a maxium of ninety days. (3) The cash compensation shall not be less than the amount of wages due to a working journalist for the period of leave not availed of, the relevant wage being that which would have been payable to him had he actually proceeded on leave on the day immediately preceding the occurrence of any of the events specified in sub-rule (1) or (2), as the case may be. 28. Leave on medical certificate. :- (3) Leave on medical certificate may be taken in continuation with earned leave provided that the total duration of earned leave and leave on medical certificate taken together shall not exceed a hundred and twenty days at any one time. (4) A working journalist shall be entitled at his option to convert leave on medical certificate on one-half of the wages to half the amount of leave of full wages. (5) The ceiling laid down in the provision. to sub-rule (1) and sub- rule (3) on the accumulation and total duration of leave may be relaxed by the competent officer in the cases of working journalists suffering from lingering illness such as tuberculosis. 29. Maternity leave :- (2) Leave of any other kind may also be granted in continuation of maternity leave. (3) Maternity leave shall also be granted in cases of miscarriage, including abortion, subject to the condition that the leave does not exceed six weeks. 30. Quarantine leave :- Quarantine leave on full wage shall be granted by the newspaper establishment on the certificate of the authorized medial practitioner desiganted as such under rule 24 or, where there is no such authorized medical practitioner, by a district public health officer or other Municipal Health Officer of similar status, for a period not exceeding twenty-one days or. in exceptional circumstances, thirty days. Any leave necessary for quaran- tine purposes in excess of that period shall be adjusted against any other leave that may be due to the working journalist. 31. Extraordinary leave :- A working journalist who has no leave to his credit may be granted extraordinary leave without wages at the discretion of the newspaper establishment in which such working journalist is employed. 32. Leave not due :- A working journalist who has no leave to his credit may be granted at the discretion of the newspaper establishment in which such working journalist is employed leave not due. 33. Study leave :- A working journalist may be granted study leave with or without wages at the discretion of the newspaper establishment in which such working journalist is employed. 34. Casual leave :- (1) A working journalist shall be eligible for casual leave at the discretion of the newspaper establishment for fifteen days in a calendar year: Provided that no more than five day's casual leave shall be taken at any one time and such leave shall not be combined with any other leave. (2)Casual leave not availed of during a calendar year will not be carried forwardto the following year. 35. Wages during casual leave :- A working journalist on casual leave shall be entitled to wages as if he was on duty. 35A. Manner of giving notice under Sec. 12 of the Act. :- Notice re- quired to be given under proviso to Cl. (a) of sub-section (2) of Section 12 of the Act shall be in Form "H" and shall be published in the official Gazette and in leading newspapers.] CHAPTER 6 Miscellaneous 36. Application under Sec. 17 of the Act :- An application under Section 17 of the Act shall be made in Form "C" to the Government of the State, where the Central Office or the Branch Office of the newspaper establishment in which the newspaper employee is employed, situated.] 37. Maintenance of registers, record and muster-rolls :- Every news- paper establishment shall prepare and maintain the following registers, records and muster-rolls: (i) A register of employees in Form D. (ii) Service Registers in respect of all working journalists in Form E. (iii) Leave Register in respect of all working journalists in Form F. (iv) A muster-roll in Form G: Provided that the leave register in Form F and muster-roll in Form G. may not be maintained by the newspaper establishments to which the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and/or the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act of the State concerned apply and which are required under those Acts or the rules made thereunder to maintain such or similar forms. 38. Effect of rules and agreements Inconsistent with those rules :- T h e provisions of these rules shall nave effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other rule or agreement or contract of service applicable to a working journalist: Provided that where under any such rule. agreement or contract of service or otherwise, a working journalist is entitled to benefits in respect of any matter which are more favourable to him than those to which he would be entitled under these rules, the working journalist shall continue to be entitled to the more favourable benefits in respect of that matter, notwithstanding that he receives benefits in respect of other matters under these rules.