NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has expressed disappointment over the high court verdict quashing its notification for revision of minimum wages for workmen in scheduled employment, saying it was committed to ensuring a life of dignity for workers in the National Capital. The Delhi High Court, in its verdict on Sunday, stated it was a "hurried" decision taken without hearing the employers or employees who would be affected and was a violation of the Constitution.
"The Delhi government disagrees with the Delhi High Court verdict and views with extreme disappointment at the erroneous conclusion arrived by the court, after having heard the matter for almost a year-and-a-half and having kept the verdict reserved for many months," Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai said in a statement.
The government is committed to ensuring a life of dignity for workers earning their livelihood in the national capital, and will take recourse to all remedies available to it for effectively enforcing minimum wages in all sectors, he said. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the ruling will put a huge financial stress on workers.
"Large number of daily wage earners in Delhi started getting increased wages of Rs 13,500 per month instead of Rs 9,500 for more than a year. With the passing of the HC judgment, their wages will be reduced. They will be put under huge financial stress. A huge setback for them," Kejriwal said in a series of tweets.
The court on Saturday quashed two notifications issued by the Kejriwal government last year, one for revision of minimum wages for all scheduled employments and the other for setting up of an advisory panel for the purpose. The Chief Minister claimed that some employers are, in the wake of the HC verdict, planning to recover the increased wages which they had paid for the last one year. "If that starts happening, it will bring untold miseries to the poor," Kejriwal tweeted.
Meanwhile, Rai said the government is studying the order and will arrive at a conclusion very soon on how to ensure the implementation of revised higher minimum wages for workers in all categories.
"I have convened a meeting of the labour department on Monday to decide the future course of action, including the next legal remedy available to the government. It is "beyond any reasonable understanding" as to how a decision to recommend revised higher wages for workers, which was taken after at least seven meetings spanning over six months, could be termed as "hurried", he said.
In its 218-page verdict, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also set aside a September 2016 notification by which a Minimum Wages Advisory Committee for all scheduled employments was set up, stating that its constitution was "completely flawed".