The fixation of minimum wages by the government is a matter of policy, not quasi-judicial function, and consultation with the Advisory Board is a necessary requirement.

1. These writ petitions challenge the validity of a notification fixing minimum wages for employment in the cashew industry in this State. A copy of the notification is Ext. P-4 in O. P. No. 1678 of 1967. Arguments were advanced in the said O. P. and it was agreed at the hearing that the remaining writ petitions must share the same fate.

2. The notification in question has been impugned on several grounds; that the Government's power of issuing a notification under the Act is quasi-judicial in nature and no reasons had been given in the instant case in the impugned notification for disregarding the advice of the Advisory Board and fixing the minimum wages at a level which was bound to have far-reaching effects and consequences; that the constitution of the Advisory Board was itself illegal, that the capacity of the employer and, in particular, of the industry to pay the minimum wages, had been ignored; and that the guarantee of minimum work to the workers assured by the impugned notification was beyond the purview of the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act.

3. Reading preamble of the Minimum Wages Act along with S.3 thereof which empowers the government to fix the minimum wages in the manner prescribed it appears to me that the fixation of minimum wages by the Government is a matter of policy, rather than the discharge of any quasi-judicial function. It is nonetheless so, in spite of the procedure prescribed in S.5 for consultation with an Advisory Board, or for an enquiry by a Committee, and for consideration of proposals and objections. The petitioner's counsel took the extremal stand that most, if not all, of the decisions on the distinction between quasi judicia and administrative functions would stand in need of review in so far as they proceeded on the basis of the now discarded "gloss" put by Chief' Justice Hewart in Rex v. The Legislative Committee of the Church Assembly: ex-parte Havnes Smith (1928) 1-KB. 411 and by the Privy Council in Nakuda Ali's case 1951 AC. 66 that the duty to act judicially must be provided for before the function can be regarded as quasi-judicial. The decision of the House of Lords in Ridge v. Baldwin 1964 Appeal Cases 40 and the decision of our Supreme Court in the Associated Cement Co. Ltd. v. P. N. Sarma AIR. 1965 SC. 1595 were cited to show that the necessity to follow judicial procedure and observe the principles of natural justice flows from the nature of the power and need not necessarily depend on any provision to act judicially. The recent publication of the "Constitutional Law of India", by H. M. Seervai (page 684) was relied on. An examination of this aspect of the question appears purely academic. Even posing the basic question as to whether the nature of the function in the instant case is quasi-judicial I am satisfied that it is not. The contention to the contrary is overruled. The statutory provisions in the Express Newspaper v Union of India AIR. 1958 SC. 578 were different; and even there, no final opinion was expressed whether the function of the Wage Board was quasi-judicial.

4. The revision of minimum wages in the instant case was effected after following the procedure sanctioned by S.5 (1) (b) of the Act which authorises the Government by notification in the Gazette to publish its proposals, to take into consideration the representations received against the same and to consult the Advisory Board before fixing or revising wages. Consultation with the Advisory Board is therefore a necessary requirement under the provisions of the Act. The constitution of the Advisory Board is provided for by S.9 thus:

9. "Bach of the Committees, sub-committees and the Advisory Board shall consist of persons to be nominated by the appropriate Government representating employers and employee in the scheduled employments, who shall be equal in number, and independent persons no exceeding one-third of its total number of members; one of such independent persons shall be appointed the Ch