The Delhi High Court on Monday has directed the Delhi Government to pass a final order on the implementation of the revised wages of prisoners, within 3 weeks.
The Court said status report shall be filed by the Delhi Government before the next date of hearing, along with a copy of the decision so taken.
A single judge bench of Justice Jyoti Singh was hearing the petition filed by Nitin Verma who claimed that despite the revision in the standard rates of wages of prisoners in June 2019 by the Government, they are getting paid in the scale of 2014.
The petition said that convicts and under-trial prisoners who volunteer to work are eligible for employment and daily wages. Petitioner has been working dedicatedly as a Sahayak.
The petitioner was aggrieved by the fact that on 26.09.2019, office of the Delhi Government issued a communication revising the standardised rates of per day wages for skilled, semi skilled and unskilled categories and despite the passage of one year, the order has not been implemented with respect to the petitioner and the other under-trials and convicts housed in jails.
Mr Sanjoy Ghose, learned ASC appearing for Delhi Government submitted that he has instructions to State that on 01.06.2020, government has an opinion from the Labour Department regarding the applicability of the minimum wages to the petitioners, both convicts and under-trials, under the existing Labour Laws.
“Based on the Opinion so received, on 01.06.2020, a Final Proposal for
implementation of the Communication dated 20.06.2019, has been sent by
the Prisons Department to the Home Department and the Respondents are
hopeful that by mid-July, 2020, grievance of the Petitioner would be
redressed and he and the others would start receiving the benefits of the
revised wages,” further submitted by the Government Counsel.
The matter would now be heard on 24th July 2020.
Read the order here;
67296_2020-India Legal Bureau