A Sindh High Court bench on Wednesday suggested ad-hoc fixation of minimum wage of workers till the decision is announced.
The court also expressed its resentment over temporary appointment of the wage board’s chairman.
The bench ordered the government to appoint an expert of the field as regular chairman of the board within two weeks.Justice SalahuddinPanhwar remarked that even the chairman of the wage board has not been appointed according to the law.
The lawyers of petitioners and the labour organizations concluded their arguments in the case hearing on Wednesday.Barrister Zuberi argued that the government was failed to fulfill legal requirements for fixing minimum monthly wage of workers.
The bench adjourned further hearing of the case till September 13 after lawyers of the petitioners concluded their contentions.
In an earlier hearing the bench questioned whether the government have mandate to fix salaries of the workers. “No reference of the minimum monthly wage of Rs 25,000 given in the government’s reply,” the judge remarked.
“The provinces have authority over the matter after the 18th Constitutional Amendment,” government counsel said.
The employers have challenged the minimum monthly wage of Rs 25,000 for unskilled workers, fixed by the provincial government.
The petitioners in their pleas termed increasing the minimum monthly wage of workers from Rs17,500 to 25,000 as ‘unjust’ adding that a 43 per cent increase in the minimum wage was irrational and without any legal ground.
The petition said that the government has overstepped its authority and pleaded for cancellation of the minimum wages order of the government of Sindh.
