Employers who claim inability to pay wages must file balance sheets, Center said in Supreme Court
New Delhi:
The Center justified its instruction of March 29 asking private establishments to pay workers full wages during the COVID-19 lockout before the Supreme Court and declared that employers alleging inability to pay wages should be obliged to provide their wages. balance sheets and accounts audited in court. .
In an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court, the government said that the March 29 directive was a “temporary measure to alleviate the financial hardship” of employees and workers, especially contract workers and casual workers, during the lockout period and instructions were revoked by the with effect from May 18.
The affidavit filed by the Ministry of the Interior (MHA) indicates that the direction is fully in accordance with the provisions, scheme and objects of the Disaster Management Act and that it is not ultra vires.
While asking the superior court to judge as unsuccessful the batch of pleas contesting the notification of March 29, the government declared that the “disputed notifications survived their life and that their decision would involve only an academic exercise because that does not would not be in the public interest to request the recovery of wages paid to employees and workers for the above-mentioned 54 days “.
The government has declared that it would be neither in the interests of justice nor in the public interest to judge the validity of the notification which only worked for 54 days – from March 25 to May 17 – to mitigate the financial difficulties of workers and employees crores.
“In the event that this court would not be prepared to judge the present proceedings as having become unsuccessful and would be ready to rule on the merits, the petitioners-employers should be asked to provide proof of their incapacity to pay the wages and salaries in terms of the order dated March 29, 2020 by the registration of their balance sheets and audited accounts, “said the affidavit.
The affidavit was filed because the superior court, when hearing the case on May 26, had asked the Center to file a counter-affidavit within a week on the issues raised in the petitions.
The MHA had adopted an ordinance on March 29 asking all employers to pay the wages of their workers without any deduction during the period of closure of their establishments during the foreclosure.
The affidavit filed by the government indicates that nothing has been recorded to establish the allegations raised in the petitions that the employers are unable to pay their employees and workers.
He said the petitions raised grounds of employers’ “financial hardship, inability or unwillingness” to pay their employees or workers during the lockout without taking them from work.
“It is respectfully submitted that this ground for financial incapacity is a legally untenable ground for contesting an instruction issued by the competent authority in the exercise of its statutory power,” said the affidavit.
He added that these measures had been taken proactively by the government to prevent “the perpetration of a financial crisis in the lower strata of society, workers and employees”.
“There was a legitimate state interest in issuing the instructions. The instructions were neither arbitrary nor capricious. They were also neither excessive nor disproportionate …”, he said, adding that the instructions were issued for economic and welfare purposes.
The affidavit indicates that the Center regularly assessed the situation and after receiving comments from experts in the field, it allowed the opening of commercial activities allowing the employees and workers affected by these instructions to return to work.
“It is respectfully argued that the said decision was made by the defendants’ union of India in order to ensure that no financial difficulty, to the detriment of the very existence of the employers of these employees and workers, is caused and that they are able to resume their business activities so that the burden of paying wages without work / business is lessened, “he said.
He also stated that by a letter dated March 20 from the Secretary (Labor and Employment) to the chief secretaries of all states, the Center had said that employers in public / private establishments could be asked to extend their coordination by not terminating their employees, particularly casual or contract workers, from their jobs or reducing their wages in the difficult environment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A simple reading of the above advice would reveal that to alleviate the financial hardship which would have been caused to employees, including casual or contract workers (works) during the lockout, a temporary and punctual measure has been provided to ensure payment continuing these works which belonged to the middle or lower strata of society, “said the affidavit.
When hearing the case earlier, the Supreme Court observed on May 15 that the March 29 notification was an omnibus order and that there was a broader question that needed to be answered.
He said that small industries could be affected due to the blockage and if they cannot win, how will they pay the wages of their workers.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
