With COVID-19 taking a hold of the country and the centre ordering a subsequent lockdown in March, an order was passed that private entities needed to pay employees full wages during the period.
According to a report by Livelaw, the Automobile Traders Association of Delhi (ATAD) has now approached the Supreme Court petitioning to quash the order citing an “existential crisis” faced by its members.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, on March 29 passed an order under the Disaster Management Act directing private entities to pay their employees full wages during the lockdown period announced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The advocate who filed the petition, Nikhil Jain, said, "The impugned order has been passed without keeping in view the economic downfall/ economic depression suffered by the private industries and without considering the financial ability to bear the burden of full wages during the lockdown.”
The petition filed in the Supreme court says, “The central government under section 10 (2) (1) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 lacks the legislative competence to direct private establishments to pay full wages/salaries to their workforce. The impugned Government order is illegal, arbitraty and violative of Article 14 (19) (1) (g) and 300 A of the Constitution and thus liable to be struck down and quashed by this Hon,ble Court.”
Jain also said, “During this unprecedented situation of COVID-19, various government of different countries across the globe are taking measures for the workers/employees, but the Government of India has not taken any steps for the workforce and instead put the entire burden on the employees owners to pay full wages/salaries.”
The plea was heard on June 4. The Supreme Court has ordered the parties to hand in written submissions to support their claims. The court has reserved its verdict citing that the members were not able to sufficiently prove their incapability of paying employees in full.
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