New Delhi: A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking directions to the government to quash the clause 3 of the 29th March order and 31st March order which had asked the employers to pay full salary to the workers during the lockdown.
The petitioner seeks permission to pay only 50% of the basic pay and DA(without payment of PF and ESIC contribution as the same is not wages) which would give more money in hand to the workers, as claimed by the petitioner.
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The PIL has been filed by Nagreeka Exports Ltd. through its president Ramchandran Emparan which challenges the government's order under Article 14 and 19 of the Constitution for being unconstitutional.
The petitioner argues that the government is favouring the class legislation under Article 14 and its order is purely based on the economic status of the two classes which is discriminatory and suffers from arbitrariness and hence doesn't clear the constitutionality test.
Further citing the grounds for the prayer, the petitioner contends that National Disaster Management Authority and National Executive Committee constituted under the Act have no power under Section 7 and 10 to direct the employers to make full payment to the workers without any deduction during the lockdown.
The petitioner suggested that to provide financial assistance to the workers, the government should have considered Provident Fund Department which has an accumulation of Rs 351 crores as unclaimed provident funds deposits and it has been contributed by the industry and its workforce.
PIL termed the government orders as vague, unworkable and unreasonable as it excessively invades the right of the employer.
"Both employer and employee have fundamental rights to carry on any occupation, trade, business, as enshrined under Article 19(1)(g) of the constitution of India, but the said the government order has taken into consideration only the employee class and have ignored the rights of the employer," read the PIL.
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Contending further the petitioner says that the government does not consider that during the lockdown the employers can't continue payment of wages as there are zero revenue and no definite period when the lockdown will be uplifted. The government has also not considered that due to its direction of full payment, it is very much possible that the workers are not working assuming that they will be paid even if they don't work.
"The workers' absenteeism have led to zero or very minimal production, and in such scenarios, if the employers are forced to make payment to the workers for the entire period of lockdown, it may lead to closure of many micro, small and medium scale industries. This will lead to permanent unemployment of many people and directly affect the economy," reasoned the PIL.
