The Delhi High Court on Friday has Issued Notice to the Centre and the Delhi Police on a petition filed seeking implementation of Ministry of Home Affair circular directing employers to provide full wages to its employees during the lockdown period due to outbreak of COVID19 Pandemic.
A single-judge bench of Justice Navin Chawla of Delhi High Court while conducting hearing through video conferencing has also directed Delhi Police to file a status report within 10 days regarding the issue.
The Court passed its order on a petition filed by 10 employees of the Venus Rent a Car Pvt. Ltd., through Advocate Satyam Singh Rajput and Advocate Amit Kumar Sharma who alleged that private limited company has not provided wages/ salary of the petitioners despite the clear direction from MHA to not to cut wages during the lockdown period. Hence, the petitioners are seeking direction to the central government to issue appropriate order/ Notification/ Direction for the payment of wages.
It has also been alleged that the company was deducting Provident Fund (PF) contributions from the salary of the petitioners, however, on the inquiry on the grounds of providing the PF number in alternate to the payment of wages so that the petitioners can avail the benefit of one-time penalty-free PF withdrawal, the Company denied producing or providing any such information to the petitioners.
The employees of the company further submitted that in their petition that they have been left to survive on the mercy of fate in this lockdown to the acts and deeds of the company.
-India Legal Bureau