BENGALURU: The High Court on Tuesday directed the Assistant Labour Commissioner to appear before it on March 9 with regard to a notification on minimum wages issued by the Labour Department.
Hearing a public interest plea filed by the High Court Legal Services Committee (HCLSC), a division bench of Chief Justice D H Waghela and Justice Ashok B Hinchigeri pulled up the state government for paying meager wages to unskilled labourers working on temporary basis in the Dharwad and Gulbarga circuit benches.
The plea was filed after Justice Narayana Swamy drew the HCLSC’s attention to the matter. Sixty-four unskilled labourers work in the two benches.
The government pays `3,500 a month to unskilled temporary labourers as against `6,500 to unskilled labourers working on a permanent basis. The petition accused the government of discrimination though the workload on all these labourers is the same.