In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Centre to take necessary steps to hike the ceiling of minimum wages of Rs 1600 per month for workers in the country, which it said was apparently obsolete and unreal. Giving eight months time to the government to raise the ceiling of minimum wages, a division bench comprising Justice B A Khan and Justice Sharda Agarwal said that Centre and all its concerned functionaries should expedite the action in the matter. With this order, the court disposed of a petition by Hospital Employees Union (HEU), challenging fixation of a ceiling of minimum wages for workers in the country at Rs 1600 few years ago. Reminding the government that it had taken initiative to amend the payment of wages act for raising the minimum limit from Rs 1600 by proposing a bill during the tenure of previous Lok Sabha and had even considered to bring an ordinance, the court said immediate action on the issue was required. Asking the government not to move at a snail's pace, the court said that since the tenure of the present Lok Sabha was for a few years now, Centre should take prompt and appropriate action for amending the law. There is surely a need for giving a fresh look to the matter as the government is already seized of the issue, the court observed.
But the government had not taken steps in this regard, nor had they chosen to offer any explanation or justifiction for the delay, the court said.
Bureau Report