Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 31: High Court has directed the Funds Organization to provide minimum wages to the Sweepers, Chowkidars and Gatekeepers working in the department.
Justice Javed Iqbal Wani quashed the orders and communication of the Finance Department maintaining the job of Sweeper as part time and directed the Government to pay wages to the petitioners at par with other employees.
Various employees of Funds Organization through their counsel T H Khawja approached the court claiming to be working as Sweepers, Chowkidars and Gatekeepers in the department and seek that the authorities be directed to pay wages to them at par with minimum of the pay scale attached to the posts of Sweepers and Chowkidars as also consequential Dearness Allowance admissible of such basic pay.
Court said the observation made by the Director and Commissioner are perverse, arbitrary, discriminatory and suffer from vice of having been passed without application of mind as also based upon no evidence.
Court quashed the impugned order as also communication and commanded the authorities to pay the petitioners wages at par with SRO 460 of 2017 read with Government Order No. 25-F of 2018 or any other statutory modification there-from the date of issuance of said SRO or statutory modification thereof.
Court while referring the article and provision of 38 of Constitution of India said the provisions of the Constitution of India as contained in the Directive Principles of State Policy make it abundantly clear that the framers of the Constitution intended to have social and economic justice for all and development of society on sound equitable social principles.
“In order to achieve the said goals, State is supposed to be a model employer and act in consonance with aforesaid constitutional ideals. The ideals are expected to be reflected in the actions of the State. That being so, the State is expected to follow the spirit of Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and it cannot, as such, come with specious pleas and hollow pretexts to reject the genuine claims of its citizens and thereby defeat the spirit of mandatory provisions of law”, Justice Iqbal recorded.
The authorities have stated that the wages of the petitioners were fixed in the year 2013 and that the petitioners cannot claim more than what has been fixed in the year 2013. “What has not been realized by the respondents that the cost of living has increased manifold during intervening period due to inflationary trends in the economy”, Justice Iqbal replied.
Court further elaborated that the salary of the regular employees during the intervening period has been increased manifold because of regular pay revisions as also increasing dearness allowances from time to time.
Court added that denying similar benefit and dispensation to workers, who are not regular employees like the petitioners working on full time basis, cannot be said to be moral and just. “Expecting the petitioners to work on wages those have been fixed ten years back is not in conformity with the principles underlying Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution. If not more, the said workers like the petitioners in any case can be paid less that, what is notified in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and paying them less that, what is prescribed by the Govt. would be violation of law exposing the said workers including the petitioners to penal consequences”, reads the judgment.
Justice Iqbal has made it clear that the Court cannot overlook the attitude of the respondents being manifestly arbitrary and obstinate having forced the petitioners to approach this Court not once but twice for a benefit, which ought to have been extended by the respondents of their own, as such, taking notice of such unbecoming attitude, the petitioners are held to be entitled to a cost to the tune of Rs 50,000 to be payable by the respondents.
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