Munnar: Kerala High Court order on paying wages to estate workers

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to ensure that  the estate owners followed its orders on the payment of salary to the workers in various estates in Munnar. The petitioners, the Devikulam Estate Workers’ Union (AITUC), argued that the order of the labour commissioner should be quashed until the restrictions imposed on account of demonetisation were   withdrawn by the Union government.

The union argued that the wages of workers employed in the estates were paid on the tenth  of every month in cash.  On November 8, 2016, the Union government announced the withdrawal of 1,000 and 500 rupee notes resulting in acute shortage of cash.  To tide over the situation, the department of labour and rehabilitation issued an order as per which the estate owners were to hand over the requisite cheque for payment of wages to the workers to the district collector, who in turn would encash the cheque through the district treasury and return the cash to the estate owners for payment of wages to the workers.  However, during the end of December 2016, the respondent labour commissioner issued a letter directing the respondent chief inspector of plantations to ensure that all employees have bank accounts for the purpose of disbursement of salary for  December  2016.

The restrictions imposed on the usage of currency still continue. There are restrictions on withdrawals of money as well as non-availability of sufficient cash, the petitioners argued.