Plea Challenging Conditions In Scheme Under The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna: Supreme Court Directs Petitioner To Approach High Court

A Division Bench of Justices Nageswara Rao and Ravindra Bhat has allowed the petitioner withdraw the plea with liberty to approach the High Court. According to the petitioner, the impugned government circular seeks to exclude a class of employees from benefitting from the scheme and is manifestly unreasonable and violating of Right to Equality as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

The petition was drawn and filed by Advocate S Ravi Shankar.

According to the plea, the Central Government had announced Rs.1.70 Lakh Crore relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) for the poor to help them fight the battle against Covid-19 Pandemic. The Government under this package proposed to pay 24% of the monthly wages into EPF accounts for the next three months of wage earners below Rs.15,0001- per month, who are employed in establishments having upto 100 employees with 90% or more of such employees earning monthly wages less than Rs. 15,0001.

The subject matter of the present petition is the scheme introduced by the Ministry of Labor in April 2020 to implement the package proposed by the government. The scheme aimed to benefit the Employees who are already members of EPF Scheme, who draw wages less than Rs. 15,0001 per month and, who are employed in establishments, with 90% or more of such employees earning less than Rs. 15, 000 as monthly wages.

The petition stated that the scheme has clearly filtered out a large section of the employees across the country who are falling within the same salary bracket, by granting favourable treatment to the another same section. The Government scheme by doing this has failed to take into consideration those employees who are working in such establishments where total employees are less than 100 but less than 90 % employees draw salary less than Rs. 15,000.

The petitioner has alleged that the scheme suffers from manifest arbitrariness and is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India, as it clearly proceeds to treat a section of employees placed at the same pedestal differently from another section of Employees standing on the same footing.

The petitioner believes the said classification also does not explain the relation it has with the object sought to be achieved by the said announcement.

The objective of the Scheme, as per the announcement made by the Finance Minister, was to increase the net take home salary by payment of EPF contribution of both employer and employee. But the notification discriminates the equals and arbitrarily increase the salary of selected class of employees. The exclusion made under the scheme does not have any basis or reasonableness and no explanation has been given, regarding the basis of the said classification and why those employees which form a part of ineligible establishments and fall in the said salary bracket are not getting the benefit of the scheme.