Supreme Court quashes Gujarat government notification exempting factories from paying overtime wages to workers during COVID-19 lockdown

The Supreme Court today quashed a Gujarat government notification exempting factories from paying overtime wages to workers and providing ideal working conditions to them amid the COVID-19 lockdown (Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha & Anr. v. State of Gujarat)..The Court has also directed the government to pay overtime wages to workers for that period..The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and KM Joseph ruled that the pandemic cannot be a reason to junk statutory provisions that ensure dignity and right to proper wages to workers. The Court, while quashing the notifications said,."The ‘right to life’ guaranteed to every person under Article 21 which includes a worker, would be devoid of an equal opportunity at social and economic freedom, in the absence of just and humane conditions of work. A workers’ right to life cannot be deemed contingent on the mercy of their employer or the State. The notifications, in denying humane working conditions and overtime wages provided by law, are an affront to the workers’ right to life and right against forced labour that are secured by Articles 21 and 23 of the Constitution.".The order was passed in a petition challenging the state government's decision to exempt factories from the provisions of the Factories Act relating to work hours, and other benefits..Supreme Court issues notice to State of Gujarat in plea challenging notification for relaxation of labour laws.The Bench has further noted that the statutory rights of workers could not have been set aside by the Gujarat government as the pandemic is "not an internal emergency threatening the security of the country".While reading the verdict, Justice Chandrachud stated that the Court is aware of the financial hardships faced by factories due to slowdown in economic activities during the lockdown. However, the burden of the economic slowdown cannot be put on workers alone, who are the backbone of economic activity, the Court ruled. It said,."This Court is cognizant that the Respondent aimed to ameliorate the financial exigencies that were caused due to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. However, financial losses cannot be offset on the weary shoulders of the laboring worker, who provides the backbone of the economy".During the nationwide lockdown in April this year, the Gujarat government issued a notification exempting factories in the state from certain provisions under the Factories Act between April 20 and July 19. This notification was passed by the state in purported exercise of its powers under Section 5 of the Act..The notification essentially exempted factories from the mandate to comply with the provisions of the Factories Act which deal with payment of overtime wages, working hours fixed for the workers, resting intervals, etc. The petition filed by the Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha and Trade Union Centre of India says:."The impugned Notification exempts factories from sections 51, 54, 55 and 56 of the Act on various conditions which are, that for the period from April 20 to July 19, 2020, workers in Gujarat can be made to work 12 hours in a day, 72 hours in a week with a 30 minutes break after 6 hours.".While granting this exemption to factories, the state government also did away with the requirement of payment of double wages for overtime and allowed for overtime hours to be compensated at normal working wages per hour..This notification was challenged on the grounds that the State has acted ultra vires the Act, considering the fact that Section 5 only allows for exemption in cases of public emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic, while being a critical issue affecting the country, has still not been declared as an emergency.Therefore, the state government could not have exercised this power under Section 5 of the Factories Act, the plea filed through Advocate Aparna Bhat stated..The provision under Section 5 allows for an exemption to be granted to a factory or a class of factories. However, the notification under challenge had given a blanket exemption and was therefore liable to be quashed, the petitioners had further contended. Agreeing with this contention, the Supreme Court ruled,."Section 5 of the Factories Act could not have been invoked to issue a blanket notification that exempted all factories from complying with humane working conditions and adequate compensation for overtime, as a response to a pandemic that did not result in an ‘internal disturbance’ of a nature that posed a ‘grave emergency’ whereby the security of India is threatened. In any event, no factory/ classes of factories could have been exempted from compliance with provisions of the Factories Act, unless an ‘internal disturbance’ causes a grave emergency that threatens the security of the state, so as to constitute a ‘public emergency’ within the meaning of Section 5 of the Factories Act.".As such, the notification which relaxed these provisions diluting the rights of the workers was quashed by the Supreme Court. Additionally, exercising its jurisdiction under Article 142, the Court also directed for overtime wages to be paid to all the workers who were eligible to claim the same and had been working overtime, in line with the provisions of the Factories Act..Read Judgment: