Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday stayed an order of the Labor Commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram, directing that wages of estate workers be paid through bank accounts.
Considering a petition filed by Devikulam Estate Workers' Union leader M. V. Ouseph, Justice A. Muhammed Mustaq directed that payment of wages be continued as was being done post demonetization.
Read also: Suicide of engineering college student: SHRC seeks report
Ouseph had submitted that the state government had issued a government order on November 17 as per which estate owners were to hand over the requisite cheque for payment of wages to workers to the district collector.
They in turn would encash the cheque through the district treasury and return the cash to estate owners for payment of wages to the workers.
Citing the order, Ouseph said the Labor Commissioner's circular directing the Chief Inspector of Plantations to ensure that all employees have bank accounts for disbursement of salaries for December, 2016, is "arbitrary and illegal".
The petitioner also argued that the direction to pay wages through bank accounts was against the statutory mandate in Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, which insists on payment of wages in coins or currency.
It is also opposed to Section 11 of the Minimum Wages Act, which provide that minimum wages under the Act shall be paid in cash, the petitioner said.
