The Supreme Court overturns Gujarat’s “anti-work” notification that allowed 12-hour shifts and reduced overtime.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court overturned a notification, passed by the Gujarat government in April amid the coronavirus lockdown, which allowed all factories in the state to extend shifts up to 12 hours from the previous eight hours and halve overtime payment. The court further ordered the state to pay overtime owed to workers at the initial rate.
“The burden cannot be put on workers during the (coronavirus) pandemic. This is not the appropriate response. The right to employment and a fair wage are part of the right to life,” a bench of three judges composed of judges DY Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and KM Joesph delivered the verdict by videoconference.
The court added that the pandemic “cannot be characterized as an internal emergency threatening the security of the nation to remove the requirements of the law.”
The judgment was rendered on a petition filed by the Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha. The union had challenged the Gujarat Labor and Employment Department’s decision to exempt factories from the provisions of the Factories Act 1948 governing overtime payment, fixed hours of work for workers and intervals. rest, among others, from April to July.
Gujarat was among six states that had ordered longer shifts for workers after the coronavirus lockdown. Several businesses affected by the lockdown have expressed their inability to pay wages in whole or in part.
The governments of those states – Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan – had said the goal was to ensure that businesses could operate with fewer workers and reduce the number of shifts, while by achieving goals.
