Summary
The Court quashed Gujarat’s pandemic notifications exempting factories from ordinary working-hour protections and replacing double overtime wages with proportionate pay. The economic slowdown did not establish the grave threat to State security required for a public emergency under Section 5 of the Factories Act. Statutory labour protections and constitutional dignity could not be displaced merely to reduce employers’ costs. Eligible workers were directed to receive statutory overtime from issuance of the notifications.
Issues
- Whether pandemic-related financial exigency met the statutory public-emergency threshold for exemptions.
- Whether the blanket relaxation of hours and overtime protections could stand.
- What relief followed for workers employed under the notifications.
Provisions considered
- Section 5 and Explanation, Factories Act, 1948Required objective proof of a grave emergency threatening security through war, external aggression or internal disturbance. (¶¶ 7, 8, 19, 22, 27, 28, 38, 45)
- Sections 51, 54, 55, 56 and 59, Factories Act, 1948Protected working-hour limits, rest and statutory overtime compensation against the impugned blanket exemptions. (¶¶ 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 45, 46)
- Articles 21, 23 and 142, Constitution of IndiaConnected humane working conditions with dignity and protection against forced labour, and directed payment of statutory overtime as consequential relief. (¶¶ 43, 44, 45, 46)
Held
- Public emergency under Section 5 is a defined jurisdictional prerequisite, not a matter of unconstrained subjective satisfaction. A grave emergency, a threat to security and a specified originating cause must objectively coexist, with a connection between them. (¶¶ 7, 8, 19, 22)
- Even assuming pandemic conditions amounted to internal disturbance, the economic slowdown did not establish a threat to security of India or its territory. Financial difficulties and governance challenges alone could not justify exceptional powers reserved for the statutory threshold. (¶¶ 17, 26, 27, 28, 45)
- The notifications increased daily and weekly hours and relaxed rest protections while effectively displacing double overtime pay. Their blanket coverage merely reduced factory overheads irrespective of output. The Act’s ordinary exemption mechanisms remained constrained by safeguards and did not authorise exemption from Section 59. (¶¶ 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
- Balancing a public-health crisis and labour welfare must comply with statutory conditions. Labour protections respond to unequal bargaining power, and the denial of humane conditions and lawful overtime offended the rights to life and against forced labour. Financial losses could not simply be shifted to workers. (¶¶ 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
- Both notifications were quashed. Under Article 142, all eligible workers who had worked since their issuance must receive overtime wages in accordance with Section 59. (¶¶ 45, 46)
Result
Writ petition allowed. Notifications dated 17 April and 20 July 2020 quashed; statutory overtime directed for all eligible workers from issuance of the notifications. Pending applications disposed of.