Court No. - 7
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 22799 of 2017 Petitioner :- Chandrawati Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Alok Kumar Gupta Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.
1. Affidavit in compliance of the order dated 02.01.2019 filed today. Taken on record.
2. Present writ petition has been filed for the following relief:
"i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the concerned authorities to pay the legal entitlement of Rs. 1,24,500/- and penalty U/s 20(6) of the Payment of Wages Act to the labourer under the "MANREGA SCHEME" within certain time fixed as Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case."
3. Briefly, it has been stated that the petitioner and 33 others had been engaged under the MGNREGA Scheme. They further claimed to have worked for the period 22.01.2013 to 06.02.2013. They claimed wages at the rate of Rs. 125/- per day under the aforesaid Scheme.
4. Since those wages were not paid to the petitioner and others, they claimed that the said amount became payable to them by way of compensation under Section 15(3) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 ( for short 'the Act') read with Rule 30 of Schedule II of the MGNREGA Scheme.
5. By the order dated 27.02.2016, the aforesaid claim came to be allowed, whereby Rs. 58,750/- in all was awarded to the 34 claimants by the payment of wages authority and compensation of an equal amount was also awarded.
6. It is in this background that the recovery was claimed to have remained pending and the petitioner has thus approached this Court seeking a mandamus for recovery of that amount.
7. By order dated 30.05.2017, personal affidavit was called from the District Magistrate, Jaunpur, why payment had not been made.
8. In response to the above order, the personal affidavit of the District Magistrate, Jaunpur was filed, wherein it had been stated as below:
"5. That it is relevant to mention here that against the impugned award dated 27/02/2016 passed by the prescribed authority and the Deputy Labour Commissioner, Varanasi Region, Varanasi, the statutory appeal vide Appeal No.166 of 2017 (Gram Panchayat Adhikari Vs. Smt. Chandrawati and 36 others) has been filed before the District Judge, Jaunpur. It is further submitted that the aforesaid appeal is pending and the further date as 14/08/2017 has been fixed for hearing."
9. In light of the stand taken by the State, a further affidavit was called from the State authorities to inform whether there was any stay order passed in the appeal and whether the amount of pre deposit under Section 17(1A) of the Act had been made.
10. In response to the aforesaid order, the second affidavit of the Block Development Officer, Badlapur, District Jaunpur has been filed today. It has been candidly stated in paragraph 4 of the affidavit filed today that the State has not deposited any amount of pre-deposit in the aforesaid appeal.
11. In view of the stand taken by the State, the appeal filed by the State against the order dated 27.02.2016 has remained defective for almost two years and there is no stay order.
12. Consequently, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the District Magistrate, Jaunpur to pay the entire amount awarded under the Act, within a period of three weeks from today.
Order Date :- 23.1.2019/AHA