New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has strongly recommended blacklisting contractors who fail to pay minimum wages to contract labourers and making suitable amendments in laws.
"The committee recommends that to keep check on erring
contractors, the government should bring suitable amendments
in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 so that such contractors are
blacklisted and not given any future government contract," the
panel said regretting that government has no such mechanism to
check such contractors.
The recommendation was made in the 18th report of the
Committee on Petitions headed by Anant Gangaram Geete on
Labour and Employment Ministry tabled in Lok Sabha today.
The committee said it was "surprised" to note that
majority of the central public sector undertakings have
failed to keep a check on such contractors.
It suggested the Labour Ministry to bring in all necessary
amendments to the Minimum Wages Act so that the basic elements
necessary for fixing minimum wages "get legal status".
"The Committee would like to be apprised of the action
taken by the Ministry in this regard within a period of three
months," it said in its report.
Observing that ambiguity exists in the policy of the
government to list various employment under the list of
scheduled employments in the country, it also suggested
bringing appropriate amendment in the Act to ensure uniformity
in listing of contractual work.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 18:56