NEW DELHI: The SC directed the Centre to file a response this week on pleas seeking exemption from payment of wages to workers during lockdown. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, “Treat this with urgency, lot of people are affected.”
Appearing for the Centre Attorney General K K Venugopal told the bench that a new notification was issued on May 17, which supersedes the earlier March 29 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order that is under challenge in the instant case.
The Spreme Court was hearing a batch of pleas which had challenged the constitutional validity of a March 20 notification by the Secretary (Labour & Employment) and clause III of the March 29 notification by the MHA, both of which compelled payment of full wages to workers and employees during the lockdown.
The petitioner company has submitted that these two notifications were “arbitrary, illegal, irrational, unreasonable and contrary to the provisions of law including Article 14 and Article 19(1)(g) of Constitution of India.”
Interest during moratorium: Centre, RBI get notices
The apex court issued notice on a petition seeking interest on loans be waived for period of the moratorium prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Due to ongoing pandemic, RBI had prescribed a three-month moratorium on EMIs, which has now been extended for another three months. The moratorium exempts borrowers from paying their EMIs for a specific period of time, and is essentially a deferment of payment to provide relief to them, but interest liabilities will continue to accrue.