Authorities to Hear claims under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936
Q. (a) Discuss the law
relating to hearing and deciding of claims arising out of unauthorized deduction
from the wages and the mode of their recovery under the Act.
(b) To which authority
can an application for claims relating to Payment of wages be made under the
Payment of wages Act? Describe briefly the procedure for making application and
hearing by such authority?
(c) Discuss the
provisions regarding an appeal against order of authority under the Payment of
Wages Act, 1936.
(d) What remedy is
available to an employed person in case of unauthorized deduction?
Authorities
to hear the claims
Section 15 empowers
the state government to appoint an authority for the purpose of this act. Every
authority shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860 [Section 14(5)]. Following persons are qualified
for being appointed as an authority under the Act:-
(1)
A presiding officer of
any Labour Court or Industrial Tribunal constituted under the Industrial
Dispute Act, 1947.
(2)
Any commissioner for
workmen’s compensation, or
(3)
Any officer with
experience as a judge of a Civil Court or as Stipendiary Magistrate.
Jurisdiction of the authority
The jurisdiction of
the authority shall be specified at the very time of appointment. More than one
authority may be appointed for any specified area and the State Government by
general or special order, provide for distribution of allocation of work to be
performed by them under the Act. It shall not decide any controversy which is
not in its ambit within the provision, (Raj Kumar Mills v Inspector, AIR 1955
MB 6)
Presentation of Application
Who can apply :- If the payment of wages is
delayed beyond the due date or deductions are made in contrary to the
provisions of the Act, an application for recovering the same can be filed
either by
(i)
the person aggrieved,
(ii)
Legal practitioner,
(iii)
An authorized officer
of the registered Trade Union,
(iv)
An Inspector ,
appointed under Section 14 of the Act.
(v)
A stranger with the
permission of the authority.
Limitation period
The limitation period for presenting the application is 12 months from the day of
default, either from the date of unlawful deduction, or date due for payment of wages.
An application may be entertained even beyond
12 months if the authority is satisfied on the reasonability of the cause for
delay for not making the application within the time prescribed for this
purpose. In case of Prem Narayan Amrit
Lal verma v Divisional Traffic Manager, Bhusawal, (1953) ILLJ 334 The court
observed that the question of condonation of delay has to be decided after
hearing both of the parties and the claims application cannot be admitted
before the question decide. In case of Sita
Ram v Nagrasana, 56 Bom. L.R. 930. Court observed that the word “sufficient cause” is not any cause
which is the personal opinion of the authority is sufficient and the
sufficiency of the cause is to be decided by proper legal principles. D.R. Jerry v Union of India AIR 1974 S.C.
130. In this case the appellant was
dismissed from service by the Railway
Authority. Thereafter he filled a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging his
dismissal. Consequently he was reinstated in his original post as a result
of the order of the court. He was
informed that the period from dismissal to reinstatement was considered as
leave period. Supreme court held that the limitation start from the decision of
‘leave without pay’ and not from date of dismissal or reinstatement.
Procedure before the
authority
After the claim application has been filled
(a) Authority has to issue notice to employer or
responsible person for payment of wages to state their objection.
(b) After inquiry authority may direct to employer
to pay wages, refund unauthorized deduction or pay compensation.
The amount of such
compensation shall not exceed the amount prescribed under Section 15 (3) of the
Act.
But no direction for
the compensation can be made in the case of delayed wages if the authority
satisfied that the delay was to :
(a) A bonafide error or bonafide dispute as to the
amount payable to the employee
concerned; or
(b) The occurrence of of an emergency of the existence of exceptional
circumstances due to which the person responsible for the payment of wages was
unable , though exercising reasonable
diligence, to make prompt payment; or
(c) The failure of the employee to apply for or
accept payment
Penalties:-
Section 15 (4) empowers the authority to penalize
the person default as prescribed under Section 15 (4).
Appeal
Section 17 provide
that the aggrieved may file an appeal within 30 days of the day on which the order or direction
has been made by the authority. The limitation period shall be calculated from
the date of order or direction and not from the date on which the party came to know of the order.
The appeal shall lie to the small causes court in Presidency Towns and (2) The
District Court elsewhere.
Order against which
appeal lies,
(i)
Against an order
dismissing either wholly or in part an application filed before the authority
under Section 15 (2) for refund of unathorised deduction made, or payment of
delayed wages, or
(ii)
Against the direction
of the authority for refund of amount
wrongfully deducted together with the
compensation, if any , or
(iii)
Against a direction of
authority for payment of the delayed wages, together with the compensation if
any, or
(iv)
Against the direction of
the authority for payment of
compensation under Section 15 (3), or
(v)
Against the order of
the authority imposing penalty under section 15 (4) of the Act.
It may be noted that
the right of appeal is, however, subject to certain conditions specified in different
clauses of Section 17 of the Act. If
appeal become time barred, a party can not be heard under Article 226 & 227
of the Constitution of India.
It may be remembered that
the order given in appeal will be treated final order, and no further appeal
will be entertained. But this shall be subject to the revisional jurisdiction
under Section 115 of Civil Procedure Code and jurisdiction under Article 227 of
the Constitution.
References:-
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1106018/
https://www.ma-law.org.pk/pdflaw/PAYMENT%20OF%20WAGES%20ACT.pdf
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