NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the Gujarat government’s notification exempting industries in the state from observing certain obligations towards workers such as providing humane working conditions and paying overtime wages.
The Gujarat government had issued a notification on April 17 allowing industries to make employees work for 12 hours a day with a 30-minute break after every six hours. It also did away with the provision that mandates double wages for overtime work.
A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud termed the notification an affront to workers’ right against forced labour and said employees’ right to life cannot be at the mercy of their employers. The notification was issued under Section 5 of the Factories Act, which gives state governments the power to exempt to exempt industries from provisions of the Act on grounds of public emergency. The Gujarat government cited the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for invoking Section 5.
The bench said the state government’s intent may have been to ameliorate the financial exigencies of industries but the burden cannot be placed on the “weary shoulders of the labouring worker”. The judgement noted that no factory could have been exempt from provisions of the Factories Act, unless there is ‘internal disturbance’ causing a public emergency.
“The economic slowdown created by the Covid-19 pandemic does not qualify as an internal disturbance threatening the security of the state,” the order stated. The apex court observed that workers’ right to life is not conditional and their overtime wages and decent working conditions must not be denied because of the pandemic. Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha and the CITU had moved the SC against the Gujarat government’s April 17 notification.
‘Pay overtime wages’
The SC directed that overtime wages be paid to all eligible workers who have been working since issuance of the notifications