The Supreme Court on Friday (June 12, 2020) asked the Centre to file an additional affidavit on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ circular mandating payment of full wages during the lockdown period.
The MHA has been given four weeks to file the response with the top court. Further hearing in the petitions filed by various companies has been postponed till last week of July.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah said industries and employees need each other and they should sit together to arrive at a settlement on the issue of payment of wages.
On June 4, the court had reserved its order in the matter for Friday after hearing arguments from all the respective parties.
The apex court also directed that no coercive action should be taken against private companies which have failed to pay full wages to their employees during the lockdown.
“We directed no coercive action to be taken against employers. Our earlier orders will continue. A detailed affidavit has to be filed by the Central government in the last week of July,” Justice Bhushan said while pronouncing the judgment.
The bench also asked the state governments to facilitate such settlement process and file its report with the respective labour commissioners.
The Ministry of Home Affairs in a circular on March 29 had mandated payment of full wages for employees during the 54 days period of COVID-19 lockdown. Several private companies filed petitions challenging the MHA order.