New Delhi: With the Supreme Court paving way for implementation of Delhi government's March, 2017 notification on enhanced wages, the minimum wages in the national Capital are all set to rise and most importantly this hike is likely to come as Diwali bonanza for the workers and employees. Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai on Friday said a meeting has been called on October 21 to implement the revised minimum wages before Diwali.
"The workers and employees will get an increased salary before Diwali," Rai tweeted calling for a meeting of Labour Department officials on October 21.
The Delhi government had on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court decision saying it will issue a final notification soon on the enhanced minimum wages.
According to the 2017 notification, workers in Delhi are entitled to get a minimum monthly wage of Rs 13,350 (unskilled), Rs 14,698 (semi-skilled) and Rs 16,182 (skilled). If notified, the revised monthly wage would be Rs 14,842 per month (unskilled), Rs 16,341 (semi-skilled for clerical and supervisory staff) and Rs 17,991 (skilled). It may be mentioned that the state government had fixed the minimum wages based on the average prices of food items and clothing, and other basic life necessities like housing, electricity etc.
It's worth mentioning that the court's order came on an appeal filed by the Delhi government against Delhi High Court's August, 2018, verdict that quashed the former's March, 2017 order revising the minimum wage for all classes of workmen in scheduled employment. According to a Delhi government official all permanent, fixed term, contractual, casual as well as daily wage workers will benefit from this order. The Delhi government's Labour Department had opted for procedure for wage fixation/revision as provided u/s 5(1)(b) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
"The objections raised by the employers' were dismissed by the apex court, as it made its decision on the wage hike notification," said a Delhi government official after the apex court verdict.