Sachchidanand Jha, J.

1. In these two writ petitions on behalf of North Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries which is an association of persons carrying on trade, business or industry, and two of its members who are partners in wholesale and retail cloth business having shops at Muzaffarpur, the petitioners are aggrieved by the revised rate of minimum wages fixed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (in short the Act). Under challenge are the notification dated October 30, 1989 in CWJC No. 580 of 1990, and dated July 19, 1993, in CWJC No. 11130 of 1993, enclosed as Annexure-1 to the writ petitions in both the cases.

2. A brief introduction of the Act so far as relevant for the purpose of these cases may be appropriate at the outset. The Act has been enacted for fixing minimum rates of wages in the scheduled employments specified in the schedule appended to the Act under Sec. 3 which is the charging Section of the Act. The appropriate Government is empowered to fix minimum rates of wages payable to the employees employed in the scheduled employment, review at intervals not exceeding five years the rates of wages so fixed and revise the same if necessary. Sec. 4 provides tha