Court No. - 59
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 40735 of 2019 Petitioner :- Jawahar Sahani And 2 Others Respondent :- Presiding Officer Payment Of Wages Act/ Assistant Labour Commisioner And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Sarwar Ali Siddique,Nazia Ilyas Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Gupta,J.
The instant petition is directed against the order dated 04.09.2019 passed by respondent no.1 i.e. Assistant Labour Commissioner, Noida, Gautam Budh Nagar, in PWA No. 579 of 2016. The claim made by the petitioners for wages against respondent nos. 2 and 3, has been rejected on the ground that respondent no.1 is not competent to entertain the claim, he being appointed by the State Government. It has been held that respondent no.2 M/s Pawan Hans Ltd. is an undertaking of the Central Government engaged in providing air transport services. The ' appropriate Government' under Section 2(i) in relation to air transport services is the Central Government. Respondent no.1 who is appointed by the State Government has no jurisdiction to decide the claim in question.
On 12.12.2019, the following order was passed:
"The claim made by the petitioners under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 has been rejected on the ground that the authority, before whom the application was filed, has no jurisdiction in the matter. Reliance has been placed on the definition of "appropriate government" given in Section 2 (i) of the Act, which inter alia states that in relation to air transport services, the Central Government would the appropriate Government. Section 15 (1) provides that the authority under the Act, who decides claim, shall be appointed by appropriate Government by notification in the Official Gazette. In the impugned order, it has not been recorded that the authority, before whom the claim was made, was not appointed by the Central Government or that he has no jurisdiction to decide claims where the appropriate Government is the Central Government.
Learned standing counsel shall seek instructions in this regard from the first respondent.
Put up as fresh on 17.12.2019"
On matter being taken up today, learned Standing Counsel has placed reliance on the instructions received from Assistant Labour Commissioner, Gautam Budh Nagar and in paragraph 8 thereof, it is specifically clarified that the Assistant Labour Commissioner before whom, the claim was filed, was appointed by the State Government and not by the Central Government.
Under Section 15(2), a claim in respect of wages, has to be made before the authority appointed by the appropriate Government under sub-section (1). The first respondent indisputably, was not appointed by the Central Government and thus, in respect of an employee of air transport services he lacks jurisdiction to entertain any claim.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the petitioners were engaged as security guard through respondent no.3 and thus, the claim was perfectly maintainable.
Under Section 3, the responsibility for payment of wages is provided. Sub-section (1) states that every employer shall be responsible for payment of all wages required to be paid under the Act to persons employed by him. It also take within its ambit person nominated or designated by the employer to be responsible for payment of wages. Sub- section (2) of Section 3 starts with a non-obstante clause and provides that notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), it shall be the responsibility of the employer to make payment of wages required to be made under this Act in case the contractor or the person designated by the employer fails to make such payment. According to the claim made by the petitioners, the contractor-respondent no.3 had failed to make payment, therefore claim was also made against respondent no.2. Therefore, the contention of learned counsel for the petitioner that they being employed through a security service, would invest respondent no.1 with jurisdiction to decide the claim, does not have any force.
The petition lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed.
(Manoj Kumar Gupta,J.) Order Date :- 17.12.2019/Chandan