[Payment Of Wages Act] Employer Responsible For Wage Payment If Contractor Fails To Make Such Payment: Jammu & Kashmir High Court

Dismissing two writ petitions challenging orders of a Labour Court and directing government departments to pay wages directly to workers, even though the payments were initially routed through a contractor Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul observed,

"..The employer, as provided under Section 3 of the Act, shall be responsible for payment of all wages required to be paid under the Act to the persons employed by him and in case of persons employed in factories, in the industrial or other establishments, in the case of contractor a person designated by such contractor who is directly under his charge, and in any other case, a person designated by the employer as a person responsible for complying with the provisions of the Act".

The case stemmed from Awards issued on July 22, 2013, by a Labour Court under the Payment of Wages Act and subsequent judgments handed down by the Principal District Judge, Bandipora, in two appeals.

Assailing the Awards and the Judgment of the court below the Petitioner Department contended that the work in question was contracted out to a third party, absolving them of direct responsibility for wage payments.

Justice Koul however analyzed the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act and highlighted the employer's primary responsibility for wage payment. He emphasized that this responsibility extends even to situations involving contractors, as stated in Section 3(2) of the Act,

"...it shall be the responsibility of the employer to make payment of all wages required to be made under the Act in case the contractor or the person designated by the employer fails to make such payment.".

Commenting on the dismissal of appeals against the awards by the Principal District Judge Bandipora Justice Koul highlighted the mandatory nature of Section 17(1A) of the Act, which necessitates the deposit of disputed amounts with the relevant authority when lodging an appeal.

The court said,

“If petitioner herein felt aggrieved of the order/s of the Authority under the Act, he, while preferring the appeal/s under the Act, was required to fulfill the mandatory condition of appending the certificate from the Authority to the effect that he deposited the amount payable under the orders of the Authority, which he, however, did not and, therefore, the Appellate Court, while observing that petitioner did not fulfill this mandatory condition, has rightly dismissed the appeal of petitioner”.

Citing precedent, including the case of Executive Engineer v. Authority under Payment of Wages Act 2007, the court emphasized that non-compliance with this requirement renders appeals ineffective and incomplete.

In light of the said observations, the court concluded by dismissing the writ petitions and upholding the orders directing the department to pay the workers directly.

Case Title: Executive Engineer Roads and Buildings, Bandipora Vs Nazir Ahmad Teli

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (JKL) 17

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