A day after the High Court quashed the Delhi government’s 2017 notification increasing minimum wages, Labour Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday said that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation was looking at ways to implement its earlier decision, including legal action.
The AAP government had increased minimum wages for all category of workers, but employers had moved court against implementation of the government order. On August 4, the Delhi High Court ruled that the notification was unconstitutional and that the decision was taken in a hurried manner.
Reacting to the court’s ruling, Mr. Rai said: “The Delhi government disagrees with the honourable Delhi High Court’s verdict, and views with extreme disappointment the erroneous conclusion arrived at by the court, after having heard the matter for almost a year and a half, and after having kept the verdict reserved for many months.”
Mr. Rai said the government was studying the High Court’s judgment and would soon decide on how to “ensure the implementation of revised higher minimum wages”. He also said that he had called a meeting of the Labour Department on Monday to decide what to do next, including possible legal action. “It is beyond any reasonable understanding as to how a decision to recommend revised higher wages for workers that was taken after at least seven meetings spanning over six months, could be termed as ‘hurried’,” he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a tweet: “Large number of daily wage earners in Delhi started getting increased wages of ₹13,500 pm instead of ₹9,500 for more than a year. With HC judgement, suddenly their wages will be reduced. They will be put to huge financial stress. A huge setback for them [sic].”
Mr. Kejriwal, in another tweet, said: “Some employers are planning to recover increased wages which they had paid for last one year since the notification has been declared void ab initio. If that starts happening, it will bring untold miseries to the poor [sic].”
The AAP government had hiked minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and graduate and above-category workers from ₹9,724, ₹10,764, ₹11,830 and ₹12,870 to ₹13,584, ₹14,958, ₹16,468 and ₹17,916 respectively. However, the industry bodies representing employers had immediately moved the court.