M/s Sirpur Paper Mills Limited established a factory in Adilabad (for short ‘the Company’). It undertakes manufacture of paper and other allied activities, as part of its activity. It engages employees on regular basis and avails the services of contract labour also. The State of Andhra Pradesh is the appropriate Government, in relation to the Company. In exercise of its power under Sections 3 and 5 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (for short ‘the M.W Act’), it issued notifications, fixing the minimum wages for the persons, employed in the manufacture of “paper and paper boards (including straw board), including hand made paper”, occurring in Part-I of the Schedule of that Act, from time to time, and they are published in the State Gazette. The Company filed W.P.No.16737 of 2003 and batch, challenging the successive notifications, mainly on the ground that the wages prescribed under the notifications cannot be made applicable to contract labour, engaged by it.

2. According to the Company, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (for short ‘the C.L Act’) and the Rules made thereunder alone regulate the conditions of the engagement of the contract labour. It is also pleaded that the activity undertaken by the contract labour is referable to the one, undertaken by the respective labour contractors, and such activity, in turn, does not fall within the definition of ‘Scheduled Employment’, under Section 2(g) of the M.W Act. Another contention is that the C.L. Act, together with the Rules made thereunder, is a self-contained Code, and it not only prevails upon the M.W Act, but also governs and controls every activity of the contract labour. It is further urged that the machinery under the M.W Act can not be pressed into service, for enforcement of the provisions of the C.L. Act.

3. Section 35 of the C.L. Act confers power upon the appropriate Government to frame Rules, touching on various aspects of the matter, covered by that Act. The list in the section covers the matters such as, appointment of members to the Advisory Board, conditions of working of the contract labour, filing of returns. Section 12 of that Act provides for grant of licence to the labour contractors. Sub-section (2) thereof directs that the licence may contain conditions, such as the hours of work, fixation of wages, provision of such essential amenities, in respect of contract labour, as the appropriate Government may deem fit, to impose in accordance with the Rules made under Section 35. In exercise of power under Section 35 of the Contract Labour Act, the Government of Andhra Pradesh framed A.P. Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Rules, 1971 (for short, ‘the Rules’). Rule 25 thereof deals with the wage rates. The Commissioner of Labour issued notification dated 13-06-2000, amending Condition No.12 specified under Rule 25 (b) of the Rules. The amended Rule is to the effect that, where no rates of wages agreed to in a settlement or award, and if the wages are not prescribed under the M.W Act, for such employment, the contractor shall pay them @ Rs.1,950/-, per month, for unskilled, Rs.2,470/-, for semi-skilled, and Rs.2,990/- for skilled workers, subject to revision, from time to time. The terms “skilled”, “semi-skilled” and “unskilled” are also defined. The labour contractors who supply labour to the Company have filed W.P.No.16737 of 2003. Initially, they challenged the notification dated 13-06-2000.

Thereafter the validity of Rule 25 itself is assailed, by seeking amendment to the prayer.

4. The petitioners contend that the Commissioner of Labour has no jurisdiction to stipulate various Rules, in exercise of power under Rule 25 of the Rules, and that the Rule itself is ultravires of the provisions of the C.L. Act. It is also their case that, stipulation of minimum wages is an activity under the exclusive purview of the M.W Act and such an exercise cannot be undertaken under the C.L. Act, or the Rules made thereunder.

5. Counte