Jagran Bureau, New Delhi. A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the central government’s order to pay full salaries to employees of private companies during the lockdown. The petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Ludhiana Hand Tools Association, in which it has said that under the Disaster Management Act, it is wrong for the Center to issue full pay to private establishments. This leads to violation of the rights to do business and equality found in the constitution. In the petition, the court has demanded the cancellation of the last March 29 order of the Central Government for giving full salary.
A similar petition was filed by a textile company in Maharashtra last week. However, the trade union of Maharashtra has also filed an application in the petition of the textile company saying that it is the right of the employees to get full salary. However, these petitions are not yet on trial. Meanwhile, this new petition has been filed by the Ludhiana Hand Tools Association.
In the petition of the Ludhiana Hand Tools Association, the court has demanded the cancellation of the order of the Center on March 29. After this, on 30 March, the Ministry of Labor and Employment issued advisory to all the regional labor commissioners, saying that all the employees of the establishments that were closed by the lockdown would be considered on duty during this period. All private and government establishments are advised that they neither expel employees nor deduct their wages. Not only this, temporary and contract employees were also considered involved in this.
The petition said whether the Disaster Management Act 2005 empowers the Center to order private establishments to pay full wages to personnel in a disaster. Whereas on similar situation, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1948 has made a provision of giving 50 percent salary. The question is whether taking care of the interests of the working class, the Center can put the entire burden on the employers, while the employers are also running at a huge loss.
