 tile working journalists(fix~ tion of rates of wages) bill, 1958(as introduced in lok sabha)  the wor,king journalists (fixation of rat:as of wages) bill, 1958 (as introdticj:d in loit suha) a billto provide for the fixation of rates 01 wages in respect 01 working journalists and fot matters connected therewith be it enacted by parliament in the ninth year of the republic of india as follows:-1 this act may be called the workine journalists (fixation of short rates of wages) act, 1958 title s 2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,-delbtt-(a) "committee" means the committee constituted under tiona section 3; (b) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under thfi act; 10 is (c~ "wage board" means the wage board constituted under the working journalists act by notification no sro 1075 of ·he government of india in the ministry of labour, dated the 2nd may, 1956; (d) "wage board decision" means the decisions of the waee board published in the gazette of india extraordinary, part n section 3, dated the 11th may, 1957; (e) "wages" means wages as defined in the industrial disputes act, 1947; of 1947 (j) "working journalists act" means the working journalists (conditions of service) and mis1:ellaneous provisions act, 1955; (g) words and expressions used but not defined in this act, and defined in the working journalists act, shall have the mean-s lngs respeetively assigned to them in that act ecmtitu· 3 (1) for the purpose of enablin&" the central government to fix ~~uee rates of waces in respect of working journalists in the iilht of the judgment of the supreme court, dated the 19tb day of march, 1958, relatine to the wale board decision, and in the light of all other lo releva~t cn:c~tances, the central government shall, as soon as may  ·~~tlie:~o~encement of this act, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a committee consisting of the following persons, nameli:-(i) an officer of the ministry of law not below the rank of 15 joint secretary, nominated by the central government, who shall be the chairman of the committee, (ii) three persons nominated by the central government from among the officers of each of the ministries of home affairs,  labour and employinent and information and broadcastine, 10 (iii) a thartered· ac(ountant nominated by the central govenunept (2) if for any reason a vacancy (other than a vacancy by reason of temporary absence) occurs in the office of the chairman or any other member of the committee, the central government may appoint 2s another person in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) to flil the vacancy, and the inquiry before tbe committee may be contillued from thestaee which had been reached when the vacancy arose (3) the central government may appoint a secretary to the committee, and may also provide the committee with such other 30 staff as may· be necessary  (4) the secretary shall perform such functions of a ministerial or other nature as the committee or the chairman thereof may r$sign or delegate to him funetions ef committee 4  (1) the committee shall, by notic~ published in such manner 3' as- it thinks: fit, call upon newspaper establishments and working joumalists ·bdd other persons interested in the wage board decision to make such representations as 'they may think fit as respects the w"ge;board'decision aild  the ratesof wages whieh may be fixed under this act in respect of working journalists· 40 (2) every such representation shall be in writing and shall be made within such period not exceeding thirty days, as the committee may specify in the notice, and shall state-(a) the specific grounds of objection, if any, to the wage s board decision, (b) the rates of wages which, in the opinion of the person making the representation, would be reasonable, having regard to the capacity of the employer to pay the same or to any other circumstance, whichever may seem relevant to the person making (0 the representation in relation to his representation, (c) the alterations or modifications, if any, which, in the opinion of the person making the representation, should be made in the wage board decision and the reasons therefor (3) the committee shall take into account the representations js aforesaid, if any, and after exa~ining the materials placed before the wage board and such further materials as have since been obtained by or made available to it under this act, make such recommendations, as it thinks fit, to the central government for the fixation of rates of wages in respect of working journalists, whether by way of :;ao modification or otherwise, of the wage board decision; and any such recommendation may specify, whether prospectively or retrospectively the date from which the rates of wages should take effect (4) in making any recommendations to the central government, the committee shall have regard to all the matters set out in sub-:;as section (i) of section 9 of the working journalists act (5) the committee may, if it thinks fit, take up for consideration separately groups or classes of newspaper establishments, whether on the basis of regional classification or on any other basis, and make recommendations from time to time in regard to each such group or 30 class 5 (1) subject to the provisions contained in sub-section (2), the powers of committee may exercise all or any of the powers which an industrial ~~~;e 14 of 1947 tribunal, constituted under the industrial disputes act, 1947, exercises for the adjudication of an industrial dispute referred to it and 3s shall, subject to the provisions contained in this act and the rules, if -my, made thereunder, have power to regulate its own procedure (2) any representations made to the committee and any documents furnished to it by way of evidence, shall be open to inspection on payment of such fee as may be prescribed, by any person interested 40 in the matter (3) if in the course of any inquiry it appears to the committee that it is necessary to examine any accounts or documents or obtain any statements from any person, the committee may authorise any officer of the central government (hereinafter referred to as "the authorised officer") in that behalf; and the authorised officer shall, subject to the directions of the committee, if any, examine the accounts or documents or obtain the statements from the person 5 (4) the authorised officer may, subject to the directions of the committee, if any, exercise all or any of the powers which an industrial tribunal may exercise under sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) of section 11 of the industrial "disputes act, 1947 14 of 1947 (5) the authorised officer shall be deemed to be a public servant 10 within the meaning of section 21 of the indian penal code 45 of 1880 6 (j) as soon as may be, after the' receipt of the recommendations of the committee, the central government shall make an order in terms of the recommendations or subject to such modifications, if any) as it thinks fit, bei~g modifications which, in the i; opinion of the central go\ternr:nent, do not effect important alterations in the character of the recommendations power of central governmentto enforce recommendations of committee (2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the central government may, if it thinks fit,-(a) make such modifications in the recommend'ltions, not 20 being modifications of the nature referred to in sub-section (i) as it thinks fit: provided that before making any such modifications, the central government shall cause notice to be given to all persons likely to be affected thereby in such manner as may be pres- 25 cribed, and shall take into account any representations which they may make in this behalf in writing, or (b) refer the recommendations or any part thereof to the committee, in which case the central government shall con- - sider its further recommendations and make an order eitther in 30 term;;; of the recommendations or with such modifications of the na ture referred to in sub-section (1) (3) every order made by the central government shall be published in the official gazette together with the recommendations of the" committee relating to the order, and the order shall come 35 into operation on the date of publication or on such date whether p:rospectively or retrospectively, ~s may be specified in the order 7 subject to the provisions contained in section 11, on the coming into operation of an order of the central government, every  working journalist shall be entitled to be paid by his employer 40 working journalists entitled to wblesbt wages at a rate which shall in no case be less than the rate vi'ages specified in the order of rates not less than those specified in the order 8 the central government may, at any time after the expiry review of three years from the date of the order passed by it under this ~~ order 5 act, if it is of opinion that circumstances require that the rates of central wages specified in the order should be revised, constitute a wage ~~~~:n­board as provided in section 8 of the working journalists act, and where a wage board is so constituted, the provisions of the working journalists act shall apply thereto l~ 9 (1) where any amount is due under this act to a working recovery journulist from an employer, the working journalist may, without d~::\~ey prejudice to any other mode of recovery, make an application to the ~orking state government for the recovery of, the money due to him, and if li~~s~na­the state government, or such authority as the state government is may specify in this behalf, is satisfied that any money is so due, it shall issue ,] certificate for that amount to the collector, and the collector shllll proceed to recover that amount in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue (2) if any question arises as to the amount due under this act to :10 a working journalist from '3n employer, the state government may, on its own motion or upon application made to it, refer the question to any labour court constituted by it under section 7 of the industrial disputes act, 1947, and the said act shall have effect in relation to the labour court as if the question ro referred were a matter speci-2s fied in the second schedule to that act which has been referred to the labour court for adjudication (3) the decision of the labour court shall be forwarded by it to the state government which made the reference, gnd any amount found due by the labour court may be recovered in the manner 30 provided in sub-section (1) 10 all notices, letters, authorisations, orders or other documents autthenbf·-ca lon 0 to be issued or made by the committee under this act may be orders, authenticllted by the chairman or the secretary thereof or any letttersf, e c,o other officer authorised by the committee in this behalf and any t~e com-_! notice, letter, authorisation, order or other document so authenti- mlttee catedshall be presumed to have been duly issued or made by the committee 11 (i) sections 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the working journalists l~~c~~f act sholl have no effect in relation to the committee working journalists act, etc (2) the provisions of this act shall have eftect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith in the terms of any award, agreement or contract of service, whether made before or after the commencement of this act: provided that where under any such award, agreement, contract s of service or otherwise, a working journalist is entitled to benefits in respect of any matter which are more favourable to him than those to which he would be entitled under this act, the working journalist shall continue to be entitled to the more favourable benefits in respect of that matter, notwithstanaing that he receives bene- 10 fits in respect of other matters under this act (3) nothing contained in this act shall be construed to preclude any working journalist from entering into any agreement with an employer for granting him rights or privileges in respect of any matter which are more favourable to him than those to which he 1$ would be entitled under this act 12 no act or proceeding of the committee shall be invalid merely by reason of the existence of any vacancy among its members or any defect in the constitution thereof 13 (1) ,the central government may, by notification in the 20 oftlcial gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this act vacan-  cies, etc, not to invalidateproceedlnl8 of committee power to make rules (2) in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for-(a) the manner in which notices under this act may be published; 25 (b) the procedure to be followed by the committee in the exercise of its powers under this act; (c) the powers and functions of the committee which may be delegated to any of its members; (d) the fees to be paid for inspection of documents furnished 30 to the committee 14 (1) the working journalists (fixation of rates of wages) ordinance, 1958, is hereby repealed ' 3 of l!l", repeal and saving (2) notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said ordinance shall be deemed to have been done 35 or taken under this act as if this act had commenced on the 14th day of june, 1858  statement of objects and reasonsa wage board for fil(ing the rates of wages in respect of working journalists was constituted by the central government under section 8 of the working journalists (conditions of service) and miscellaneous provisions act, 1955 (45 of 1955) and its decision was published in may, 1957 this decision was challenged by certain newspaper establishments in petitions filed before the supreme court; and that court set aside the decision on the 19th march, 1958, on the ground that it did not take into account the capacity of the industry to pay to consider the situation arising out of the decision of the supreme court and to frame an agreed scheme in respect of the wages of working journalists, several meetings were held with the representatives of newspaper employers and working journalists; but it was not found possible to come to an agreement consequently an ordinance entitled the working journalists (fixation of rates of wages) ordinance, 1958 (3 of 1958), was promulgated on the 14th june, 1958 this ordinance provided for the establishment of a special committee for the purpose of making recommendations to the central government in regard to the rates of wages to be fixed for working journalists this committee has already started fu~ctioning it is now proposed to replace the ordinance by an act of parliament  g l nanda new delhi; the 23rd july, 1958  financial memorandumthe bili contemplates the appointment of a committee by the' central government to make recommendations for enabling the central government to fix rates of wages in respect of werking journalists clause 3 of the bill empowers the central government to constitute a committee consisting of one representative each of the ministries of law, home affairs, labour and employment and information and broadcasting and one chartered accountant, the central government is also empowered to appoint a secretary to the committee for' the performance of such functions as the committee or the chairman thereof may assign to him and also to appoint any such other staff as may be considered necessary it is proposed that the representatives of the ministries may continue to draw their salary, etc, from the respective ministries and similarly the secretary to the committee may continue to draw his salary, etc, from the ministry in which he is employed the expenditure on the honorarium to be granted to the chartered accountant member of the committee and on the staff and other' incidental charges is likely to be about rs 24,000 for a period of 4 months during which it is expected that the committee might be able to make its final recommendations to the government clause 5(2) of the bill lays down that any representations made to the committee and any documents furnished to it !>y way of evidence, would be open to inspection on payment of a fee it is not possible to estimate the income which the committee may have on this account however, there may be a total additional expenditure of about rs 24,000 on account of the setting up of the committee under the bill  memorandum regarding delegated legislationsub-clouse (1) of clause 13 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules to carry out the purposes of the bill and sub-clause (2) of that clause specifies the matters in respect of which rules may be made these matters relate to the manner in which notices may be published, the procedure to be followed by the committee in the exercise of its powers, the powers and functions of the committee which may be delegated to any of its members for facilitating the work of the committee, and the fees to be paid for inspecting the documents furnished to the committee the delegation of powers is of a normal character a bill to provide for the fixation of rates of wages in respect of working joumalists and for matters connected therewith the president has, in persuance of clause (3) of article i i 7 of  the constitution of india, recommended to lok sabha the ·consideration of the bill m n kaul, secretary (shri gulzarilal nanda, minister of labour and employment and planning) 