SC Approves Constitution Of Wage Revision Committee For Nurses, Hospital Staff In Kerala [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court has approved the constitution of a committee constituted by the Kerala Government under Section 9 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, for revising the wages of nurses and hospital staff, by dismissing an appeal filed by the Kerala Private Hospital Association. The committee was constituted by the government on 28.10.2016, following massive protests by nurses and staff of private hospitals seeking enhancement of meagre wages paid to them. The committee comprised 14 nominees each of employees and employers, as per Section 9 of the Act.

The constitution of the committee was challenged in the High Court of Kerala. The single bench repelled the challenge. The appeal filed against the judgment of single judge was dismissed by the division bench. The Private Hospital Association, therefore, approached the Supreme Court.

Their challenge was against the inclusion of some members in the 14-member panel representing employees. The contention was that those members were actually employees of the hospitals, and, hence, cannot be construed as nominees of employees. According to the association, only the owners or members of the management of the hospital can be included in the committee as nominees of the employers.

The contention was found to be baseless by the bench comprising Justice RK Agarwal and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre. It was observed as hereunder:

A person, who is nominated to represent the interest of his employer, in our considered opinion, need not necessarily be the employer himself. If on the other hand, his employee is nominated to represent his employer’s interest, such nomination is in accordance with the requirement of Section 9 of the Act. It is for the reason that such nominee once nominated would defend his employer's interest and not individual interest as an employee in the Committee. In other words, a nominee in such a case does not participate in his individual capacity as an employee in the Committee but participates as a representative of his employer.

Reference was also made to a judgment authored by Justice Chinnappa Reddy for a three-member bench in Ministry of Labour & Rehabilitation & Anr vs Tiffin’s Barytes Asbestos & Paints Ltd and Anr, AIR 1985 SC 1391, which had held that actions taken under the Minimum Wages Act should not be lightly interfered with on mere ground of technicalities.