Minimum Wages Act

Minimum wages act, 1948
Minimum Wages act passed on 15th March 1948 it is divided into 2 schedule of employment part 1 and
part 2 part 1 contain 21 employment and part2 contain only agriculture sector
Scope and Objective of the Minimum Wages Act

 To safeguard that the employee has a basic physical necessity, proper health,
and comfort.
 Ensure that the labour gets fair wages.
 To ensure that the labour lives a decent life and have a respectable name in
society.
Wages [Section 2(h)]
Section 2(h)”wages” means all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money which would if the
terms of the contract of employment express or implied were fulfilled be payable to a person employed in respect
of his employment or of work done in such employment and includes house rent allowance but does not include –
(i) the value of –
(a) any house accommodation supply of light water medical attendance or
(b) any other amenity or any service excluded by general or special order of the appropriate government;
(ii) any contribution paid by the employer to any person fund or provident fund or under any scheme of social
insurance;
(iii) any traveling allowance or the value of any traveling concession;
(iv) any sum paid to the person employed to defray special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his
employment; or
(v) any gratuity payable on discharge;
Essential Ingredient
1. Wage should be by way of remuneration
2. It should be capable of being expressed in terms of
3. It should be payable to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such
employment.
4. It should be payable to a
5. It should be payable if the terms of employment, express or implied, are fulfilled.
6. It includes house rent allowance.
7. It does not include house accommodation, supply of light, water, medical attendance, traveling allowance,
contribution of employer towards provident fund, gratuity , any scheme of social insurance etc.
8.
IMPORTANT provisions IN BRIEF:
Section 3: Fixation of minimum rates of wages:
Appropriate Government shall fix the minimum rates of wages in respect of the employment specified in
Part-I or II of the Schedule and review at such intervals not exceeding (5) years, to revise the wages.
Section 4: Minimum rate of wages:

The Minimum rate of wage may consist of basic rate of wage and special allowance (cost of living
allowance) to be notified by the commissioner of labour once in six months effective 1st April and 1 st
October.
Minimum Wages are fixed according to the following criteria
1. Time Rate – The minimum rate is fixed according to the duration of the work
done by the labor.
2. Piece Rate – Here the minimum wage is fixed by the total number of pieces
manufactured in the factory.
3. Overtime Rate – Here the minimum rate is fixed by the overtime done by the
labor regardless of the time or piece rate.
Section 5: Minimum rate of wages:
Procedure for fixing and revising minimum wages
(a)appoint as many committees and sub-committees as it considers necessary to hold enquiries and
advise it in respect of such fixation or revision, as the case may be, or
(b)by notification in the Official Gazette, publish its proposals for the information of persons likely to be
affected thereby and specify a date, not less than two months from the date of notification, on which
the proposals will be taken into consideration.
Procedure for fixing and revising minimum wages

Section 5 of the Act gives the procedure for fixing and revising the minimum wages. The
appropriate government shall appoint committees and subcommittees that may be able to
advise on the fixation of minimum wages. The appropriate government is also supposed to
publish the minimum wage fixation in the newspapers so as to inform the stakeholders
regarding the changes implemented. This publication has to be done at least before two
months of the implementation. The stakeholders may also raise issues if any after the
publication. The ascertainment of the minimum wage is then published in the Official Gazette.
There may also be consultations regarding the revision of wages, with the Advisory Board. One
may wonder, what constitutes an Advisory Board. Let us know what is it and its constitution.
Section 7: Advisory Board:
Appropriate Government shall appoint an Advisory Board to advise the Government in the matters of
fixing and revising of minimum wages and for coordinating the work of Committees and Sub Committees
appointed under Section 5. The term of office of the non-official member
is 2 years but continues till replaced.
The Committees/sub committees/Advisory Board shall consist of persons representing in equal number,
the employers and the employees and independent persons not exceeding 1/3rd of the total members,
one of them to be nominated as chairman.
Section 12: Payment of Minimum rates of wages:
Wages paid in respect of scheduled employments shall not be less than the minimum rates of wages.
ection 13: Fixing hours for a normal working day etc:
The number of hours of work should not exceed (9) per day including rest for half an hour and 48 per
week and a day of rest in every(7) days normally on Sunday shall be allowed.
Section 18: Maintenance of Registers and Records:
Registers like muster roll and wages register shall be maintained by the employer as per the prescribed
forms under the Rules.
Section 19: Inspectors:
Appropriate Government shall appoint Inspectors under the Act to enforce the provisions of the Act.
Govt. of Telangana appointedLOs,ACLs,DCLs,JCLs and COL and also officers of certain other departments
as Inspectors.
Section 20: Claims:
The appropriate Government shall appoint authorities to hear and decide claims for difference in wages
and compensation up to ten times the amount of difference in wages. As per the pecuniary jurisdiction
the ACL can hear claims up to 50,000/-, DCL above 50,000/ and up to 2,00,000/- and JCL above
2,00,000/-, which has been fixed in 1999 and requires revision.
Section 22: Penalties for certain offences:
Imprisonment upto (6) months or fine upto Rs.500/- or both.
Section 25: Contracting out:
Any contract of employment with terms for reduced wages shall be null and void to that extent.
Section 27: Power of State Government to add to schedule:
The appropriate Government by giving notification in the OfficialGazette may add any employment to
the Schedule under Part-I or II.
Constitutional Validity of the Act

The Act is constitutionally valid and it can be ascertained from the following pointers:
1. The Act does not violate Article 19 of the Constitution: The constitutional validity of the
Act was challenged in the cases of U. Unichonoy vs State of Kerala and Gulmuhommad
Tarasaheb vs State of Bombay. The parties challenged that this law restricted
their Article 19(1)(g), as it puts a restriction on freedom of trade. But, the court held in
favour of the Act. It was held that, in the absence of any such Act, the employers will
pay wages, arbitrarily.
2. The Act does not violate Article 14 of the Constitution: It was contended that the Act
violates the ‘equal protection of laws’ clause. However, the court ruled that the Act does
not violate Article 14 in the case of Bhikusa Yamasa Kshatriya vs Sangammar Akola Bidi
Kamgar Union.
Landmark case laws
 In the case between the State of Madras and P.N. Ram Chander Rao in
1956, the court ruled that any notification not specifying the manner and what
interval special allowance made payable to be adjusted is a defect and impaired by
an apparent error of law.
 In the case between Cashew Manufacturers and Exporters Association v/s
State of Kerala in 1999, the high court ruled that the government is not bound by
the Advisory Board’s report.
 In the case between S.D. Basha and the State of Madras, it was held that in a
condition where the members appointed into the committee are bereft of
knowledge and experience, such a committee shall be invalid. A committee with
men of no knowledge and experience is illegal.

Minimum Wages Act

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Minimum Wages Act

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Minimum Wages Act

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Minimum wages act, 1948

Scope and Objective of the Minimum Wages Act

Section 3: Fixation of minimum rates of wages:

Section 4: Minimum rate of wages:

Minimum Wages are fixed according to the following criteria

Procedure for fixing and revising minimum wages

Procedure for fixing and revising minimum wages

Section 7: Advisory Board:

is 2 years but continues till replaced.

ection 13: Fixing hours for a normal working day etc:

Section 18: Maintenance of Registers and Records:

Section 19: Inspectors:

Section 20: Claims:

Section 22: Penalties for certain offences:

Imprisonment upto (6) months or fine upto Rs.500/- or both.

Section 25: Contracting out:

Section 27: Power of State Government to add to schedule:

Constitutional Validity of the Act

Landmark case laws

You might also like