Calcutta HC sets aside award applying central minimum wages to contract labour; West Bengal is the appropriate government
The question: Is the Central Government or the State Government the 'appropriate government' for contract labour engaged through contractors at the company's Howrah factory?
The Calcutta High Court has set aside the award of 13 November 2024 of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal in case no. 39 of 2022, which held that the contractors' employees working for Bridge and Roof Company (India) Ltd. are entitled to minimum wages at the rate fixed by the Central Government. Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul) held that, because the workers are engaged through contractors for work carried out within West Bengal, the State Government is the appropriate government under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and the State Minimum Wages Act therefore applies to them. Bridge and Roof Company (India) Limited awarded contracts to several contractors through tenders with a condition that minimum rates of wages be paid to the labourers. Bridge and Roof Contractors' Shramik Union raised an industrial dispute for the contract workers at the Howrah factory, demanding Rs 26,000 a month as minimum wages or, in the alternative, the minimum wages notified by the Central Government. On a reference made on 26 August 2022, the Tribunal found nothing on record to show that the minimum rate was Rs 26,000. In its award of 13 November 2024 in Reference No. 39 of 2022, it nevertheless allowed the reference in part, holding that the contractors' employees were entitled to the minimum wages fixed by the Central Government from time to time, and that the company was bound to pay its contractors at that rate for payment to those employees. The company challenged the award in a writ petition.