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TMI Blog1967 (9) TMI 152X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ective agreements or otherwise, and wages are exceptionally low . For giving effect to those resolutions in India, the Central Legislature passed the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. (4) The preamble to this Act states that it is expedient to provide for fixing minimum rates of wages for certain employments , and those employments are specified in Part-I of the Schedule to the Act. From the List of industries enumerated in Part-I of the Schedule, it is seen that the Act aims at making provision for the statutory fixation of minimum rates of wages in a number of industries wherein labour is not organised and sweated labour is more prevalent or where there is a big chance of exploitation of labour . The fixation of wages under this Act is not on the application of the employee nor is it dependent on the existing of any dispute. The Act casts on the Government the duty of fixing minimum rates of wages payable to employees in employments specified in Parts I and II of the Schedule to the Act. (5) Residential Hotels and eating houses were not included in the Schedule when the Minimum Wages Act was enacted. But Sections 27 of the Act empowers the appropriate Government to add to either p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ayable to workers. (9) After considering the recommendations of the Advisory Board the Government issued the Notification dated 28-10-1967 (published in the Mysore Gazette dated 3-11-1966) proposing certain rates of minimum wages for different categories of employees in residential hotels and eating houses in three different zones. The rates proposed in this Notification were higher than those recommended by the Advisory Board. The Notification stated that the proposal for fixation of minimum rates of wages would be taken up for consideration on 10-1-1967 and that objections or suggestions received with respect to those proposals before that date would be considered by the Government. (10) The Mysore State Hotel owners' Association, the Bangalore City Hotel Owners' Association the South Kanara District Hotel Owners' Association and several other Associations of such proprietors and individual proprietors, sent representations and objections to those proposals. besides urging that there was no need for fixation of minimum wages in hotel industry, it was contended in those representations and objections that the proposed rates were excessive and beyond the capacity ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ointed a Committee to enquire into and advice in respect of fixation of such minimum wages. (vi) Fixation of minimum wages is a quasi-judicial act and hence principles of natural justice should have been followed. (vii) There was no consultation with the Advisory Board before fixing minimum rates of wages. (viii) The rates fixed in the impugned notification are not minimum wages, but of fair wages of living wages. (ix) The Government should have taken into account the capacity of the industry to pay rates of wages fixed. (x) The division of State into zones fixing different rates of minimum wages for different zones, is not permissible. (xi) The division into zones has not been done on any rational basis. (xii) There is no definition of 'residential hotels' and 'eating houses' and of different categories of employees for whom different rates of minimum wages are fixed. (xiii) The different rates of minimum wages should have been fixed for adolescents, children and apprentices. (xiv) The valuation of food provided to employees (for purposes of deduction from the rates of minimum wages) is unreasonable low and is done without the authority o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ives would be on the Committee appointed by the Government to hold enquiry and advise the Government regarding fixation of minimum wages and that the employers will have opportunity of adducing evidence and placing materials before the committee while no such opportunity will be available if the Government publishes its proposal and considers representations thereto. It was also urged that the guarantee under Article 14 of equal protection applies to substantive as well as procedural laws and that conferment of unguided and uncontrolled power capable of being used in an arbitrarily or discriminatory manner is violative of Article 14. (20) Reliance was placed on the decision of the Supreme Court in Surajmal Mohta Co. v. Viswanatha Sastri, . There, the validity of Section 5 of the Taxation of Income (Investigation Commission) Act, 1947 was impugned. That Section empowered the Central Government to refer to the Commission for investigation and report any case of evasion of income-tax to substantial extent. The Supreme Court pointed out that persons dealt with by the impugned Act were deprived of substantial right of appeals and revision which were available to assessees whose cas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l by the Supreme Court in Express Newspaper (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, : Under the Act (Minimum Wages Act) the appropriate Government has either to appoint a Committee to hold esquires and to advise it in regard to the fixation of minimum rates of wages or, 'if it thinks that it has enough material on hand' to publish its proposal for fixation of wages in the official gazette and to invite objections . (underlining (herein (' ') is ours). (24) Thus it is clear that the Government has to follow the procedure under Clause (b) of Section 5(a) of the Minimum Wages Act if it thinks that it has enough materials on hand to publish proposals for fixation of minimum rates of wages; but if the Government thinks that it has not enough knowledge or information about any scheduled employment to enable it to publish such proposals, the Government has to appoint Committees or Sub-Committees to hold enquires and to advise it in the matter. Hence the discretion given to the Government to choose either of the two alternative procedures, cannot be said to be unguided and unfettered. (25) A similar question was considered by the Supreme Court in Niemla Textile Finishing Mill ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iminate between one party and the other . (28) As stated by the Supreme Court in Pannalal Binjraj v. Union of India, , the discretionary power is not necessarily discriminatory and the abuse of power cannot be easily assumed where discretion is vested in a high authority; there is moreover a presumption that the public officials will discharge their duties honestly and in accordance with the rules of law' the mere possibility of discrimination does not necessarily invalidate the piece of legislation conferring such discretion; and where such power is abused the Court will strike down the exercise of such power; and what will be struck down in such cases will not be the provision which invested the authorities with such power but the abuse of the power itself. (29) In Section 5(1) of the Minimum Wages Act the discretion to follow either of the alternative procedures, has been conferred on the Government and not on any minor official. The Government can be expected to use that discretion reasonably having regard to the circumstances of each case. But if in any particular case it is established that the Government has abused the discretion in following the procedure by Claus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ps (constituting the majority) did not find any discernable principle either in Section 5 or the rest of the Punjab Act, to afford guidance to the Collector as to when resort should be had to the summary procedure under Section 5 and when the remedy under ordinary law should be resorted to. We are unable to read the majority judgment in that case as laying down a proposition that conferment of a decision which is capable of being abused or exercised in a discriminatory manner is unconstitutional even if guidance for the exercise of that discretion is afforded by the legislative enactment (conferring such discretion) or from other circumstances. (32) Mr. Narasimha Murthy next referred to the decision f the Supreme Court in Jalan Trading Co., (Pvt.) Ltd. v. Mills Mazdoor Sabha . There, the Supreme Court considered the question of delegability of the power to remove difficulties in a legislative enactment. The majority of the Bench of the Supreme Court held that Section 37 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 which authorizes the Central Government to provide by order for removal of difficulties in giving effect to the provisions of the Act delegates legislative power which is not per ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esidential hotels and eating houses. According to him the employees in hotel industry are well organised and there is no chance of exploitation of labour in that industry; nor is there any sweated labour in that industry; nor is there any sweated labour in that industry. Mr. Narasimha Murthy argued that the facts that the Hotel Workers' Union in Bangalore has raised an industrial dispute regarding the wages in that industry that the Government had referred that dispute for adjudication by Industrial Tribunal, and that the Industrial Tribunal had given an award, are sufficient to demonstrate that there was no need for inclusion of hotel industry in the Part-I of the Schedule to the Minimum Wages Act. (37) But such a contention has not been taken up in any of these petitions and the State had no opportunity of meeting it in its counter-affidavit. As stated earlier, the inclusion of hotel industry in the Schedule to the Act was one as early as in the year 1959. Yet the validity of such inclusion was not challenged earlier. (38) Moreover, it was not also disputed that the said award of the Industrial Tribunal covered only about 29 hotels and restaurants in Bangalore City and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se the Mysore Planters' Association is an association of employers in plantation industry which is one of the scheduled employments. What Section 9 requires is that there shall be persons representing employers; it is not necessary that such persons should themselves be employers. hence there is no difficulty in holding that the Presidents of the Mysore Chamber of Commerce and the Mysore Planters' Association are representatives of employers in scheduled employment. (43) Mr. Narasimha Murthy also argued that the Chief Engineer in Mysore could not represent employers in schedule industry. Mr. Narasimha Murthy seems to have overlooked that construction and maintenance of roads and building operations are scheduled employments and that in the work charged establishment of the Public Works Department a large number of workers are employed. The Chief Engineer who is in charge of these employments, is undoubtedly competent to be the representative of the employer, namely, the Government. (44) The more substantial question raised by Mr. Narasimha Murthy was whether the Secretary to the Government in the Labour Department and the Commissioner of Labour can be said to be indep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er was nominated as one of the independent members of the Advisory Board, but did not state anything as to whether he could not be appointed as an independent member. (50) With all respect to the High Court of Calcutta, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh we think the view taken by the High Courts of Punjab, Kerala and Bombay is preferable. We think the expression independent person which is not defined in the Act, is used in contradistinction to persons representing employers and persons representing employees. It merely advises the Government which may or may not accept such advice. Even if Government officials may be said to have official bias or interest in enforcing the provisions of the Act, having regard to the purely advisory character of the Board, they cannot be said to have such interestedness as would prevent them from being n an advisory body as independent persons. (51) In the term for which the Advisory Board had been appointed had expired and the Government sought to extend its term after the term originally fixed had expired. It was contended that the term of the Advisory Board could not be so extended as it was already dead. Dealing with that contention the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y committee and that it had enough materials to publish a proposal under Clause (b) of Section 5(1), it is difficult to say that there was any abuse or arbitrary exercise of the discretion under Section 5 of the Act. (56) VI. The postulate on which the petitioners have contended that the procedure adopted by the Government is violative of principles of natural justice is that fixation of minimum wages under Section 5 is a quasi judicial act. But it is contended for the State that fixation of minimum wages is purely an administrative act. (57) Before considering the rival contention on this question, we may briefly advert to the view of different High Courts on this point. In South India Estate Labour Relations Organisation v Madras State, in considering the relative scope of the Minimum Wages Act and the Industrial Disputes Act a Bench consisting of Rajamannar C J. and Venkatarama Aiyar. J. observed thus: While the adjudication of disputes under Act 14 of 1947 (the Industrial Disputes Act) is to be by a Tribunal exercising judicial functions, the fixation of wages by the Government under Act 11 of 1948 (the Minimum Wages Act) is administrative in character While an award ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ry to refer to all of them in view of several decisions of the Supreme Court. The earliest case on this question is Province of Bombay v. Khushaldas S. Advani . This decision has been referred to and the law on this point is further elucidated in the later decision Radheshyam v State of M P . (63) After quoting with approval the celebrated definition of a quasi-judicial body given by Atkin L. J., (as he then was) in Rex v. Electricity Commissioner (1924). I KB 171 the Supreme Court laid down that the three requisites should be fulfilled in order that the act of a body may be quasi-judicial act, namely, that the body of persons-- (i) must have legal authority. (ii) to determine questions affecting rights of parties, and (iii) must have the duty to act judicially. (64) Applying these tests of fixation of minimum wages, there is no difficulty in holding that the first test is satisfied because the Minimum Wages Act confers on the Government legal authority to fix minimum wages. (65) In regard to the second test there is no controversy that the determination of minimum wages, affects parties namely the employers and the employees. But there is controversy over the que ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e inferred from the express provisions of the statue in the first instance in each case and no one circumstance alone will be determinative of the question whether the authority set up by the statute has the duty to act judicially or not. The inference whether the authority acting under a statute where it is silent has the duty to act judicially will depend on the express provisions of the statute read along with the nature of the rights affected the manner of disposal provided, the effect of the decision on the person affected and other indicia afford the statute. A duty to act judicially may arise in widely different circumstances which it will be impossible and indeed inadvisable to attempt to definite exhaustively. (69) In Nageshwara Rao v. Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. Subba Rao, J. (as he then was) who delivered the majority judgment, laid down the following tests: Whether an authority has a duty to act judicially should be gathered from the provisions of the particular statute and the rules made thereunder. If an authority is called upon the decide respective rights of contesting parties, in other words if there is a lis, ordinarily there will be a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the parties, or hear them or even to give opportunity to such parties to make any representation with respect to such advice. (74) Even when the Government follows the procedure under Clause (b) of Section 5(1), all the Government is required to do is to publish in the Official Gazette its proposal and to consider representation of such parties received before a specified date. There is no duty cast on the Government to hear such parties or to take evidence. (75) But learned counsel for petitioners contended that the requirement in Section 5(1)(b) to specify the date on which the proposal would be taken up for consideration, would indicate that on such specified date the Government should hear the parties likely to be affected by the proposal. We are unable to draw such an inference. The object of specifying the date on which the proposals and the representations will taken up for consideration is, as can be seen in sub-section (2), to indicate the date before which representations have to be sent to the Government by persons who desire to make such representations. Section 5 does not expressly nor impliedly provide for giving a hearing to persons who have sent representati ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... resentations are not n the context of any determination of rights of parties. As stated earlier fixation of rates of minimum wages does not amount to determination of rights of parties. (79) It was next contended that as the determination of minimum wages has to be done on objective data and not according to the subjective satisfaction of the Government, fixation of minimum wages is a quasi-judicial act. As stated by Fazl Ali, J in Kushaldas Advani's case. a person entrusted to do an administrative act has often to determine questions of fact to enable him to exercise his power; he has to consider facts and circumstances and to weigh pros and cons in his mind before he makes up his mind to exercise his power just as a person exercising a judicial or quasi-judicial function has to do. Thus the mere circumstances that the Government has to act on objective data in fixing minimum wage is not sufficient to render such act quasi-judicial. (80) The process of fixation of minimum wages under the Act is similar to the procedure under the New Towns Act 1946, for development of a new Town. Section 1(1) of that Act provides that if the Minister is satisfied, after consultation with ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a conclusion as to what rates should be determined as minimum wages, it is not required, either expressly or impliedly, by the Act that the Government should act judicially in reaching such a conclusion. If that is the true character of fixation of minimum wages principles of natural justice do not come into play. So long as the procedure provided by the Act is followed, the decision of the Government cannot be assailed as being violative principles of natural justice. (83) Hence the petitioners' contention that the Government should have heard the persons likely to be affected by the fixation of minimum wages or at least the persons who had made representations, is unsustainable. Though there was no obligation on the Government to hear persons who had sent representations, the Minister for Labour heard such of them as were present in response to notices sent to them. (84) An important criticism of the procedure adopted by the Government was that the Government fixed higher rates of minimum wages than proposed in the notification dated 28-10-1966. it was argued that if the Government intended to fix rates higher than those proposed in the notification dated 28-10-1966, it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . (87) VII It was urged for the petitioners that fixation of minimum wage was invalid on the ground that the Advisory Board had not been consulted by the Government before so doing. To this the answer on behalf of the State was two fold--that the Government had consulted the Advisory Board and that such consultation is not compulsory (88) In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the State, it is stated that the Advisory Board was consulted by the Government prior to publishing its proposal in the notification dated 28-10-1966. The proceedings of the Advisory Board dated 8-7-1966 have been produced as Enclosure-1 to the counter-affidavit. (89) Learned counsel for the petitioners contended that the Advisory Board should have been consulted after the publication of the proposal and receipt of representations made thereto. But Section 7 of the Act does not state at what stage the Advisory Board may be consulted by the Government. Even the proviso to Section 5(2) which makes consulting the Advisory Board compulsory in case of revision of rates of minimum wages, does not state that such consultation should be only after the receipt of representations to the proposal for revision ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion of minimum rates of wages by the State Government. The learned counsel for the petitioners did not even suggest that the Central Advisory Board should necessarily be consulted by the State Government before initial fixation of minimum rates of wages. A construction which would lead to such inconvenient results does not comment itself to us. The contention of the State Government that it is not compulsory to consult the Advisory Board for initial fixation of minimum wages if well founded. (95) VIII. It was strenuously contended for the petitioners that the wages fixed by the impugned notification are not minimum wages but 'fair wages' or 'living wages' and that the Government was not competent to fix the impugned rates of wages. (96) The concepts of minimum wage 'fair wage' and 'living wage' have been explained by the Committee on Fair Wages in its Report and have been accepted by the Supreme Court. (97) Living Wage represents a standard of living which provides not merely for a bare physical subsistence but for the maintenance of health and decency the measure of frugal comfort and some insurance against the more important misfortunes ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mum but contains several components which take the statutorily prescribed minimum near the level of the fair wage, and when that is the effect of the statutory provision capacity to pay may no doubt have to be considered. It was a statutory wage structure of this kind with which the Court was dealing in because Section 9 authorised the imposition of a wage structure very much above the level of the minimum wage and it is obvious that the observations made in the judgment cannot and should not be divorced from the context of the provisions with respect to which it was pronounced. Therefore we feel no hesitation in rejecting argument that because the Act prescribes minimum wage rates it is necessary that the capacity of the employer to bear the burden of the said wage structure must be considered. (102) After quoting with approval the definition of 'Minimum Wages' in the Report of the Fair Wages Committee, his Lordship stated that the Minimum Wages Act contemplating that minimum wage rates should be fixed with dual object of providing sustenance and maintenance of the worker and his family and preserving efficiency as a worker. (103) In view of the pronouncement of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the same category of employees in hotel industry the rates of minimum wages are ₹ 130, ₹ 110 and ₹ 100 in Zones 'A', 'B', and 'C' respectively. It is seen that it is only in Zone 'A' that for this category of workers in hotel industry the rate of minimum wage is higher while in Zone 'B' it is slightly lower and in Zone 'C' it is considerably lower than that fixed in Tile industry. Thus it is not correct to say that the rates of minimum wages fixed in hotel industry for this category of employees are higher than those in Tile industry by comparing the rate fixed for the topmost Zone (Zone'A') in hotel industry with the uniform rate fixed in Tile industry without differentiation of rates of different localities. (108) Mr. Narasimha Murthy argued that the rate of minimum wage must be the same in all scheduled employments and for all categories of workers in the same employment as the minimum needs of workers would be the same irrespective of the employment in which they are engaged and irrespective of the nature of the work done by them. This argument of Mr. Narasimha Murthy overlooks Section 3(3) of the Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d any materials to show that the impugned rates of wages are in excess of appropriate rates of minimum wages or that they (impugned rates) amount to rates of fair wages. When the petitioners have challenged the rates fixed by the impugned notification, it is for them to establish that these rates are above minimum wages and beyond the scope of the Minimum Wages Act. (112) IX. The contention of the petitioners that the Government should have taken into account the capacity of the industry to pay the rates of wages fixed by the impugned notification, proceeds on the premise that the wages fixed by the impugned notification are fair wages and not minimum wages. But we have already held that it is not established that the impugned rates are in excess of the rates of minimum wages. It is well settled that the capacity of the industry or of an individual employer to pay the rates of minimum wages is immaterial and irrelevant. As stated by Gajendragadkar, J. (as he then was) in Crown Aluminium Works v. Their Workers, , if an employer cannot maintain his enterprise without cutting down the wages of his employees below even minimum wage he would have no right to continue his enterprise o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... W. P. No. 1621 of 1967) it has been stated that raw materials are atleast 5 per cent costlier in Mangalore than in Bangalore and that vegetables are cheaper in Bangalore than in Mangalore by 10 to 20 per cent. This statement amounts to an admission that prices of many essential commodities which go to make up the cost of living, are higher in Mangalore than in Bangalore. Moreover we can also take judicial notice of the fact that Mangalore s the only major port in Mysore State and has a large volume of foreign trade in addition to considerable volume of industrial and commercial activities. In the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the State, it has been explained that the cost of living in Mangalore was almost equal to that in Bangalore and hence Mangalore was included in Zone 'A'. (117) Mr. B. P. Holla learned counsel for the petitioners who are proprietors of hotels in Mangalore referred to cost of Living Index figures of Mangalore, Bangalore and several towns placed in Zone 'B' and submitted that the cost of living Index figures of Mangalore are lower than those of other places. From this, he wanted to establish that cost of living in Mangalore was not high ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the petitioners that all hotels and eating houses within each zone cannot be treated as being similarly situate, that within each zone there are big hotels and eating houses having large business and small hotels and eating houses having moderate or even small turnover, that in Bangalore City restaurants in busy localities like Chickpet, Avenue Road Kempegowda Road, cannot be compared to restaurants in the farthest extension outskirts of the city that its irrational unreasonable to put into the same class such diverse establishments merely because they are located in the same city or town. This argument proceeds on the postulate that the rates of minimum wages should vary according to the capacity of the employer to pay But as stated earlier, the capacity of the employer is not a relevant factor for fixing rates of minimum wages. What are relevant are the cost of living and the general level of wages in a locality. These factors remain the same in each city or town whether the establishment of any individual employer is big or small whether he has large business or small turnover, whether he is prosperous or not. (122) Mr. Narasimha Murthy argued that the areas comprised ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n a statute. (126) Likewise there is no merit in the contention that the impugned notification does not define various categories of employees like Cooks' 'assistant Cooks', 'Servers' and 'cleaner'. The categories of these employees and the nature of their functions and duties are well known even in the absence of any definition. Should any controversy arise in any particular case whether an employee falls within one or other of these categories, it will be, for the Authority appointed under Section 20 of the Act (to adjudicate claims under the Act) to decide such question after taking evidence about the functions and duties performed by such employee. (127) XIII. More substantial is the contention of the petitioners that in the impugned notification the Government should have fixed different rates of minimum wages for children adolescents and apprentices. The impugned notification makes no distinction between adults, adolescents and children nor between apprentices and full fledged workmen. (128) Section 3(a)(iii) provides that in fixing or revising minimum rates of wages under this section different minimum rates of wages may be fixed for adu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of growth, needs more food and better nourishment than an adult and hence the Government was justified in fixing uniform rates of minimum wages for adults, adolescents and children. (134) But learned counsel for the petitioners argued that minimum wages are intended to provide for the subsistence and certain other needs of not only the workman but also his family consisting of himself, his spouse and two children, that while an adult worker has the responsibility of maintaining not only himself but also his family an adolescent or a child has no such responsibility and hence even looking at the rates of minimum wages from the point of view of the needs of the workman, fixation of lower rates for adolescents and children than for adults, would be justified. On the other hand the learned Special Govt. Pleader argued that children and adolescents in employment, generally support their parents, brothers and sisters. (135) We think the question of appropriate rates of minimum wages for children and adolescents must be viewed from the point of work done by them. Even minimum wage like any wage, is a return for the work done by the workmen. It is not a gratuitous payment to the wo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a craft or trade. It is obvious that when he is still learning his work will not be as valuable to the employer as that of a trained worker. The contention of the petitioners that the rates of minimum wages fixed for an apprentice should be lower than that of a trained worker appears to us to be reasonable. It is in recognition of this position that Section 3(a)(iii) of the Act enables the Government to fix for apprentices rates of wages different from those for ordinary workers. (140) At first the learned Special Government Pleader sought to justify the absence of differentiation in the impugned notification between apprentices and other workmen on the ground that if lower rates of minimum wages are fixed for apprentices, the employers will misuse such differential rates by classifying even a trained worker as an apprentice and will pay him lower rates of wages. We do not see any force in this argument, if any dispute arises whether a workman is an apprentice or a trained workman, it will be for the Authority appointed under Section 20 of the Act, to decide that question after taking evidence as to whether he is still learning the job. If any employer tries to take unfair adva ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on of value of the amenities would result in exploitation of labour by claiming more than what is ascribable to the cost of such amenities. Further while fixing that sum it is not possible to take individual hotel into account as conditions vary from hotel to hotel. The Notification being general in nature, Government considered the sum attributable to the cost of food and other amenities should be fixed at the figures mentioned in the notification. It is however common experience that the food and other amenities given to workmen is not same thing which a customer is offered. The petitioner however has failed to establish that the deduction allowed is invalid by substantiating his contention by producing necessary material. (147) We think the State is right in contending that the quantity, quality and value of food supplied by the employers to employees, are not uniform and vary from establishment to establishment and that is not possible to value separately food supplied to employees in each individual establishment. Government can only fix uniform rates for the value of food supplied in different zones, for the purpose of deduction from minimum wages. Hence the question is w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essential commodities at concession rates, the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, authorise the provision of such supplies at concession rates. *** *** (150) Clause (o) of Section 30(1) of the Act empowers the appropriate Government to make rules to prescribe the mode of computation of the cash value of wages in kind and of concessions in respect of supplies of essential commodities at concession rates. Clause (d) of Section 30(1) empowers rules being made to prescribe the time and conditions of payment of, deductions permissible from, wages. Rule 21(1) of the Mysore Minimum Wages Rules, 1958 reads: 21. Mode of computation of the cash value of wages in kind and of concessions: (1) the retail prices at the nearest market shall be taken into account in computing the cash value of wages paid in kind and of essential commodities supplied at concession rates. This computation shall be made in accordance with such directions as may be issued by the Government from time to time. **** *** Relevant parts of Rule 22(2) reads: 22. Time and conditions of payment of wages and the deductions permissible from wages:- (1) * * * * * * (2) Deducti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... yees in the form of food. Learned counsel for petitioners argued that the note in the impugned notification can be read as the notification making such authorisation. But we think that it is more reasonable to read that note as providing for deduction of the value of an amenity, namely, food than as authorising payment of minimum wages partly in the form of food. (154) However, learned counsel for petitioners argued that it would not be reasonable to regard food supplied by employers to the employees in hotel industry, as an amenity, they referred to 'the meaning of the term 'amenity' in Shorter Oxford Dictionary as the quality of being pleasant or agreeable: pleasant places, pleasant ways or manners . (155) Mr. Holla invited our attention to the decision of the Court of Appeal in In Re, Ellis and Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council (1920) 1 KB 343. Referring to the term 'amenity' occurring in the Housing Town Planning Act, 1909, Scrutton. L. J. said The Word, 'amenity' is obviously used very loosely; it is I think, novel in an Act of Parliament, and it appears to mean 'pleasant circumstances or feature, advantage. We see no reason why ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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