Order

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Orissa High Court quashing Clause-iii of paragraph 7 of the Explanation in Notification No. 514(E) dated 12.07.1994 issued by the Government of India, Minis­try of Labour in purported exercise of powers conferred by Sec­tion 3(1)(b) read with Section 4(1)(iii) and 5(2) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (in short ‘the Act’). Stand of the writ petition­ers before the High Court in the writ petition was that the inclusion sought to be made was impermissible in the background of what has been stated in The Mines Act, the Mines Rules and other pieces of legislation dealing with mining activities. The relevant portion of the Notification reads as follows:

Explanation for the purpose of the notification:

“A person working or employed in or in connection with a mine is said to be working or employed “below ground” if he is working or employed:—

(i) in a shaft which has been or is in the course of being sunk; or

(ii) in any excavation which extends below superjacent ground; or

(iii) in an open cast working in which the depth of the excavation measured from its highest to its lowest point e