COVID-19: Punjab firms move SC against MHA order to pay full salaries to workers during lockdown

New Delhi
An association of 41 companies and firms from Punjab has moved the Supreme Court against a March 29 order of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asking private establishments to pay full wages to workers during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Ludhiana Hand Tools Association also challenged the validity of Section 10(2)(i) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The provisions of this Act cannot “impinge upon express provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and take away the right to layoff workmen during times of natural calamity, it said.

Terming the MHA order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 as arbitrary, it said the order violated the private companies’ right to carry on any occupation, trade or business guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

“Govt has not taken any steps for workforce instead put the burden on employers to pay full wages,” the petitioner said.

An employer and employee have reciprocal promises whereby the right of an employee to demand salary is reciprocal to performance of work by such employee, the petition said, adding, an employer has a right not to pay if no work is done.

Private employers should be completely exempted from paying their workmen during the lockdown as the one-sided implementation of contract alone was not permitted, it argued.

Earlier, amid reports of layoffs and salary cuts in various industries, Mumbai-based textile company Nagreeka Exports Ltd

har challenged the orders issued by MHA and the Maharashtra Government asking companies to pay full salaries to workers during COVID19 lockdown.

Instead of issuing orders to companies to pay full salaries during COVID19 lockdown, the government should have considered using Rs 350 Crore unclaimed Provident Fund Deposits to offer financial support to workers during this unprecedented crisis, it had suggested.

Due to the extension of lockdown, its losses will be multiplied and if it were to comply with the government orders, its business will become unsustainable, it had contended.

The Disaster Management Act — under which these notifications for payment of salaries were issued — didn’t provide for continued payment of wages by employers to their employees and workers during any disaster, it had said, adding, the orders were beyond the scope of the Act