New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday extended till June 12 the operation of its May 15 order asking the government not to take any coercive action against companies and employers for violation of its March 29 circular on payment of full wages to employees for the lockdown period.
The Ministry of Home Affair (MHA), in its circular, had asked all employers to make payment of wages to their workers without any deduction for the period their establishments were under closure during the lockdown to contain COVID-19.
The Secretary (Labour & Employment) had also written to chief secretaries of states to advise employers not to terminate employees from job or reduce their wages amid the challenging situation of the pandemic.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah expressed its concern over the MHA's circular, saying that 100 per cent wage payment has been ordered with the direction that there would be prosecution of offending employers.
"We have reservations over this. Some discussion should be held to work out some solution for this period of time," the bench said, adding that a balance has to be struck between wage payment for the lockdown period and protecting the industries.
"State may have to give small industries owners a hand. Negotiations need to be held industry to industry, workmen to workmen," the bench said while reserving the verdict on batch of petitions.
In the proceedings conducted through video conferencing, the bench said there was a concern that workmen should not be left without pay, but there may be a situation where the industry may not have the money to pay and hence, the balancing was needed.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said as the people were migrating after the lockdown, the government came out with the notification to ensure that the workers are paid to help them in staying put at the work places.
The top law officer referred to the provisions of the National Disaster Management Act to argue the validity of the March 29 circular.
The bench asked the Centre whether it has the power to prosecute the employers for non-payment of 100 per cent wages to the employees in view of the fact that certain provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act have not been invoked.
"Some.negotiations have to happen between employers and workmen to iron out what to be done for the salary for these 54 days (of lockdown)," it observed.
One of the firms, Ficus Pax, said that the work of the company has come to down to ten per cent and it has become an impossibility to pay the full wages.
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