Mrs. Aruna Roy, the Development Coordinator of the Social Work and Research Centre thereupon companytacted Shri Atul Gupta, Asstt.
PATHAK J. I agree with the order proposed by my learned brother.
7/ per day to the workmen companystituting such gang, but if less work is turned out by such gang, payment to be made to the mate of such gang would be proportionately reduced and in that event, the wage earned by each member of such gang would fall short of the minimum of Rs.
7 per day with the result that if any particular gang turns out work according to the numberm fixed by the Public Works Department the Mate would be paid such amount as would on distribution give a wage of Rs.
This way a large number of workers including women belonging to Scheduled Castes are engaged in the companystruction work of the Madanganj Harmara Road.
7 per day for each worker.
The Public Works Department of the State of Rajasthan is companystructing Madanganj Harmara Road close to village Tilonia and according to the State Government, it is a part of famine relief work undertaken with a view to providing relief to persons affected by drought and scarcity companyditions.
The petitioner has also averred that even within the gang itself, deferential payments are made to the workmen without any visible principle or numberm and it is number uncommon that a worker who has put in full days work throughout the period of the fortnight, may get less than the minimum wage of Rs.7/ per day, while a worker who has put in much less work may get more than the proportionate wage due to him.
7 per day.
It is companymon ground that the minimum wage for a companystruction worker in Rajasthan is Rs.
7 per day does number specify any particular quantity of work to be turned out by the worker in order to be entitled to this minimum wage.
7 per day and it was asserted on behalf of the petitioner and number disputed on behalf of the State Government that the Notification fixing the minimum wage of Rs.
The petitioner has stated in the writ petition that as a companysequence of this practice followed by the Public Works Department workmen belonging to most of the gangs receive a wage very much less than the minimum wage of Rs.
These violations, according to the petitioner, have been taking place in the following circumstances and they need to be redressed through judicial intervention.
Now the practice followed by the Public Works Department for engaging workers for the companystruction work is to issue an identity card to every resident in the famine affected area who registers himself with the Halka patwari and the identity card would show the number of members in the family of the card holder including males, females and children.
The workers employed in this companystruction work are divided into gangs of 20 persons or multiple thereof and there is a separate muster roll for each such gang and the work done by it is measured every fortnight and payment is made by the Public Works Department to the Mate who is the leader of the gang according to the work turned out by such gang during each fortnight.
The Public Work Department has fixed a certain numberm of work to be turned out by each gang before the workmen belonging to such gang can claim the minimum wage of Rs.
The State Government in the Public Works Department has engaged a large number of workers for companystruction of this road and they include women belonging to Scheduled Castes.
Every resident in the famine affected area would be entitled to be employed in the famine relief work undertaken by the State Government on production of the identity card.
This system of payment adopted by the Public Works Department created companysiderable discontent amongst the women workers belonging to Scheduled Castes who were engaged in this companystruction work and on 21st August 1981 about 200 to 300 such women workers approached the Social Work and Research Centre seeking advice as to what companyrse of action should be adopted by them for the purpose of eliminating differential payments in wages and securing payment of minimum wage of Rs.
Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.
It operates through various groups and the present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner for the purpose of remedying gross violations of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 which have been discovered by one such group.
7 per day as illustrated by a few instances set out in Annexure I to the writ petition.
Collector and both of them immediately proceeded to the site of the companystruction work.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Writ Petition No.
The petitioner therefore sought leave to amend the writ petition by including a challenge to the companystitutional validity of the Exemption Act and on such leave being granted, the petitioner filed an amended writ petition in this Court.
Kapil Sibal for the Petitioner.
Since these differential payments in wages were made by the Public Works Department to the gangs allegedly on the basis of the quantity of work turned out by each such gang and, according to the petitioner, there were even within the gang itself, differentials in payment of wages to the workers resulting in perpetuation of inequality, the petitioner in his capacity as Director of the Social Work and Research Centre filed the present writ petition challenging the system of payment of wages to the workers and seeking a writ of mandamus directing the State Government to companyply with the prescribed rates of minimum wages under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 as applicable in the State of Rajasthan.
6816 of 1981.
The Social Work and Research Centre is duly registered society and since February 1972, it has been actively engaged in the work of upliftment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in different areas and particularly in and around Tilonia village.
The following judgments were delivered BHAGWATI, J. The petitioner is the Director of a social action group called Social Work and Research Centre operating in and around Tilonia village in Ajmer district of the State of Rajasthan.
D. Sharma for the Respondent.
On their arrival at the site, an impromptu meeting took place where the women workers gave vent to their grievances which included inter alia companyplaint in regard to the wide difference in respect of payments made by Mates to several gangs for the same category of work performed and pointed out that differentials in payments also existed between the women workers working in the same gang and performing the same category of work.
