ABP Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors.

[WritPetition (Civil) No. 246 of 2011],

7th February, 2014

while holding that the Justice Majithia Wage Boards for Working Journalists and Non-Journalist Newspaper and News Agency Employees followed certain well laid down principles and norms while making recommendations, it was furthe held that “it is the prerogative of the Central Government to accept or reject th recommendations of the Wage Boards. There is no scope for hearing the parties once again by the Central Government while accepting or modifying the recommendations, except that
the modifications are of such nature which alter the character of the recommendations and
such modification is likely to affect the parties.”

The mere fact that in the present case, the Government has not accepted a few recommendations will not automatically affect the validity of the entire report. Further, the Government has not accepted all those suggestions including those pertaining to retirement age, etc. as these are beyond the mandate for which the Wage Boards were constituted. Regarding fixation of pay, assured career development, there have been proposals in the recommendations which are in the manner of providing higher pay scale after completion of certain number of years which cannot be treated as time bound promotion.

Accordingly, we hold that the recommendations of the Wage Boards are valid in law, based on genuine and acceptable considerations and there is no valid ground for interference under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.

ABP Pvt. Ltd Judgement