The government has withdrawn its own earlier order directing employers to pay wages to workers, even with units remaining shut during lockdown.
On Sunday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a fresh set of guidelines in which it has repealed the order dated March 29, 2020, which had talked about compulsory wage payment to workers during the lockdown.
The developments come two days after Supreme Court asked the government not to resort to any coercive action against private companies who have not paid their workers full wages during the lockdown in accordance with a government order in March. A three-judge Bench led by Justice L. Nageswara Rao had then indicated that payment of full wages, as directed by the MHA may not be viable for small and private enterprises, which themselves are tottering on the brink of insolvency due to the lockdown. Some small units may not have been able to survive a fortnight into the lockdown. The court remarked that the March 29 order was an omnibus one and there were several issues involved that required careful reconsideration from the government side.
The MHA had on March 29 issued an order under Section 10(2)(I) of the Disaster Management Act asking all employers to pay wages to workers on due date without any deduction even if the establishment was closed during the lockdown period.
“All employers, be it in the industry or in the shops and commercial establishments, shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their workplaces, on the due date, without any deduction, for the period their establishments are under closure during the lockdown,” the March 29 order had said.
Over the past few days, the industry had petitioned the government to withdraw its order on compulsory wage payment as they were themselves facing cash crunch issues. Some industrial bodies had also asked the government to foot the wage bills of companies through payment of grants but it was not agreed to due to fiscal constraints.
The trade union leaders have criticised the government’s step to withdraw the order. “The order for lockdown 4.0, by a slight of hand, allows employers to get away without paying wages during the lockdown. So no payment of wages and no wage subsidy just where do workers go? Who is responsible for a worker in a containment or red zone or for that matter even in an orange or green zone where full public transport has not been resumed?” Gautam Mody, General Secretary, New Trade Union Initiative said in a statement.
-India Legal Bureau