ORDER :

DIXIT KRISHNA SHRIPAD, J.

1. In all these Writ Petitions, the petitioners have called in question the Minimum Wage Notifications issued on various dates by the first respondent-State Government under the provisions of sec. 3 r/w sec. 5(1)(b) of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (hereinafter "MW Act"), whereby the minimum wages have been revised for the benefit of employees in as many as 37 sectors of employment in the State, of which three Final and one Draft Notifications have been excluded later, by way of withdrawal, the same having been challenged by the Labour/Trade Unions, separately.

2. A brief historical back ground of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948:

(a) After the World War - I (1914-1919), even the staunch believers of Capitalism and Laissez Faire stopped considering that labour is a commodity or a factor of production, whose wages should be determined only by the market forces of demand and supply. The International Labour Organization in its Eleventh Session of 26th Convention held at Geneva in May, 1928 had passed Resolutions, inter alia, recommending for the creation of Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery and laying down broad guidelines for fixing the minimum wages with the participation of the labour and the Capital, inter alia, subject to the rider that what is fixed as a minimum wage cannot be contracted out.

(b) A relevant portion of the above Resolution reads as under:

"if the labourers are to be secured the enjoyment of minimum wages and they are to be protected against exploitation by their employers, it is absolutely necessary that restrain should be imposed upon their freedom of contract and such restrictions cannot in any sense be said to be unreasonable. On the other hand, the employers cannot be heard to complain if they are compelled to pay minimum wages to their labourers even though their labourers on the account of their poverty and helplessness are willing to work on lesser wages."

(c) India being a Member of the International Labour Organization had an obligation to evolve a legislative policy to give effect, inter alia, to the recommendations of the aforesaid Geneva Convention. However, arguably, because of the Great Depression of 1930s' followed by the World War - II (1939-1945), the Colonial Rulers had turned deaf ears to the cry of the ILO. Some ineffective and selective mechanism was introduced under the Defence of India Rules promulgated under the Defence of India Act, 1939. It is only in April 1946, on the recommendation of the Eighth Standing Labour Committee, the British India introduced a Bill. The Industries Conference of December, 1947 had passed a Resolution popularly known as "Industrial Truce Resolution" making certain recommendations concerning the subject matter of the Bill. However, after the advent of Freedom, the Parliament has passed the said Bill that became the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, w.e.f. 15th March, 1948. The Central Government being the delegate under the Act has promulgated the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950 and similarly, the Government of Karnataka also being a delegate, has promulgated the Karnataka Minimum Wages Rules, 1958.

3. THE SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT:

In India, the minimum wages are fixed by two agencies, viz, (i) the Central Govt. or State Govt. as the case may be, under the provisions of Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and (ii) the Industrial Tribunals/Labour Courts on reference by the appropriate Govt. under the provisions of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, when there is an industrial dispute actual or apprehended (as considered in Sri Bhajarang Jute Mills Case, AIR 1970 SC 878. However, when there is no industrial dispute/difference, the minimum wages for the employees of the industrial sectors concerned, have got to be fixed by the appropriate Government on the recommendation of the Advisory Boards Committees appointed by it, under the provisions of the Act. The appropriate Governments generally accept the unanimous recommendations of the Advisory Boards by notifying