50% wage cut for prisoners is unconstitutional, says HC
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Madurai:05.02.2019
The provision in the Tamil Nadu prison rules, which allows for deduction of 50% of wages earned by the prisoners for their upkeep is unconstitutional, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court held and asked the state government to provide for a lesser and reasonable percentage of deduction.
A division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice G R Swaminathan pointed out that Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits ‘Begar’ — a labour or service which a person is forced to give without receiving any remuneration.
“Taking work without paying adequate remuneration is also begar. Likewise, making a substantial deduction from wages without any justifiable reason would also constitute begar and a violation of Article 23 of the Constitution,” the court said and noted that the prisoners in Tamil Nadu are not paid the wages as prescribed in the Minimum Wages Act. It is unconstitutional besides being unreasonable, the court noted.
The court made the observations in response to a petition filed by activist K R Raja, who sought court intervention to strike down the provision in TN Prison rules and also asked to set aside the 20% deduction of wages credited to the victim compensation fund.
The government, in response, opposed the petition and submitted that average cost of food, clothing and other amenities provided to workers comes to ₹153 per day per prisoner. Even though 50% of wages is deducted for the upkeep of the prisoners — the deducted amount being ₹100, ₹90 and ₹80 from the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled respectively, is not sufficient to meet the costs, the state submitted.
After perusing the submissions made, the court held that the provision for deduction from prisoners’ wages for the purpose of compensating the victims cannot be questioned since it was made only pursuant to and in terms of directions given by the apex court. “We are of the view that apportioning 1/5th of the prisoners’ wages for crediting to the victims’ compensation fund cannot be said to be unreasonable,” the court said. However, the court held that deduction of 50% of prisoners’ wages is unconstitutional.
IN SUPPORT: Deduction wages substantially without any justifiable reason violates Article 23 of the Constitution, the court noted
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Madurai:05.02.2019
The provision in the Tamil Nadu prison rules, which allows for deduction of 50% of wages earned by the prisoners for their upkeep is unconstitutional, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court held and asked the state government to provide for a lesser and reasonable percentage of deduction.
A division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice G R Swaminathan pointed out that Article 23 of the Constitution prohibits ‘Begar’ — a labour or service which a person is forced to give without receiving any remuneration.
“Taking work without paying adequate remuneration is also begar. Likewise, making a substantial deduction from wages without any justifiable reason would also constitute begar and a violation of Article 23 of the Constitution,” the court said and noted that the prisoners in Tamil Nadu are not paid the wages as prescribed in the Minimum Wages Act. It is unconstitutional besides being unreasonable, the court noted.
The court made the observations in response to a petition filed by activist K R Raja, who sought court intervention to strike down the provision in TN Prison rules and also asked to set aside the 20% deduction of wages credited to the victim compensation fund.
The government, in response, opposed the petition and submitted that average cost of food, clothing and other amenities provided to workers comes to ₹153 per day per prisoner. Even though 50% of wages is deducted for the upkeep of the prisoners — the deducted amount being ₹100, ₹90 and ₹80 from the skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled respectively, is not sufficient to meet the costs, the state submitted.
After perusing the submissions made, the court held that the provision for deduction from prisoners’ wages for the purpose of compensating the victims cannot be questioned since it was made only pursuant to and in terms of directions given by the apex court. “We are of the view that apportioning 1/5th of the prisoners’ wages for crediting to the victims’ compensation fund cannot be said to be unreasonable,” the court said. However, the court held that deduction of 50% of prisoners’ wages is unconstitutional.
IN SUPPORT: Deduction wages substantially without any justifiable reason violates Article 23 of the Constitution, the court noted
No comments:
Post a Comment