The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice on appeals filed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and the state of Kerala against the High Court order in a plea challenging the Kerala Minimum Wages (Amendment) Rules, 2015.
The Bench comprising Justices S.K. Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy while issuing notice said if both sides are slightly unhappy with the order, it appears justice has been done.
The Kerala Minimum Wages (Amendment) Rules, 2015 was challenged before the High Court of Kerala since the Act introduced a procedure by which inter alia the payment of wages had been enabled through a Wage Payment System facilitated by information technology. The employers of those scheduled employments were required to submit electronically or upload an IT-enabled Register of Employment and Wages. It also mandated that the employers shall pay and disburse the wages to the employees only through individual bank accounts.
The High Court partly allowing the Writ Appeals directed that the employers of the scheduled employments may be granted three months time to commence uploading of Form XIV in Wage Payment System, as of now without the account number of the employee; if not voluntarily provided.
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There can be no insistence that the minimum wages will be paid through the bank accounts or through the Wages Protection (WPS) System of the Department. However, those who voluntarily do either will not be prosecuted for a reason only of violation of Section 11(1). While declaring sub-rule (2) of Section 21A of the amended Rules of 1958 to be ultra vires to the statute, the other amendments are upheld, said the High Court.