An employer cannot reduce an employee's wages by transferring them to a lower wage area if the employee was already receiving a higher wage that had been accepted by the employer.

( 1 ) THESE two writ petitions raise common questions of law. They can therefore be disposed of under a common judgment.

( 2 ) THESE are petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution seeking the issue of a writ of certiorari to quash the order of the Authority under Payment of Wages Act, Visakhapatnam given on 30/09/1963.

( 3 ) THE petitioner is carrying on the business of motor transport. It has several lorries and buses running not only in cities but also in mofussil areas and also in areas where some roads are covered by ghats. The 2nd respondent in each writ petition was appointed as driver by the petitioner on daily wages of Rs. 1-75 np. On 16-8-1961, G. O. Ms. No. 1609 was issued under the Minimum Wages Act fixing the wages payable to the employees in the motor transport business. The said G. O. divides the drivers into three categories. Category I relates to the drivers of vehicles plying between towns, cities or villages; category 2 relates to the drivers of vehicles operating within a radius of 5 miles from a city or town; and the third category to drivers of vehicles on routes having more than 10 miles of ghat section. The minimum wage, which is fixed under the said G. O. respectively for these three categories is Rs. 78, Rs. 91 and Rs. 104 per mensam. It is contended by the petitioner that the 2nd respondent in each writ petition was appointed as driver in 1960 and was working as mofussil driver in the beginning and later on as city driver. At the time when the said G. O. was issued, the 2nd respondent in each writ petition was working as city driver. Accepting the said G. O. , the petitioner commenced paying these drivers Rs. 91 per month, In the month of February 1963, however both these drivers were transferred to the mofussil. They were paid Rs. 78 for that month. The respondents however claimed Rs. 91 on the footing that their salary was Rs. 91 and that the petitioner could not have deducted Rs. 13 from their salary. The said respondents therefore filed applications under Section 15 of the Payment of Wages Act before the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act, Visakhapatnam for the purpose of issuing directions against the petitioner that it should not deduct Rs. 13 from their salary and for the payment of the same.

( 4 ) THESE petitions were resisted by the petitioner mainly on the ground that the petitioner had a right to transfer these drivers from the city area to the mofussil area and since they have now been working in the mofussil area, their minimum wage fixed in the G. O. being Rs. 78 they were paid accordingly. There was thus no unlawful deduction and no action under the Payment of Wages Act can lie.

( 5 ) THE Authority rejected these contentions and held that the petitioner could not have deducted the salary merely because they were transferred and are working in the mofussil by his order dated 30-9-1963. It is this order that is now impugned in these writ petitions

( 6 ) THE principal contention of Mr. A. Kuppuswamy the learned Counsel for the petitioner, is that the petitioner has always a right to transfer the drivers from the city area to the mofussil area. They were paid Rs. 91 because they were working in the city area. Since they are now working in the mofussil area and their minimum wage being Rs. 78 they are not entitled to anything more than Rs. 78 and consequently, in his submission, no question of deduction arises. The learned Advocate therefore contends that the Authority under Payment of Wages Act had no jurisdiction to entertain the applications and give the direction as it did.

( 7 ) IN order to appreciate this contention, it becomes necessary to read some of the provisions of both the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 as well as the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. Section 2 (h) of the Minimum Wages Act defines wages. That definition, in so far as it is relevant, is as follows:" "wages" means all remuneration, capable of being expressed in terms of money, which would, if th