The authority rightly ensured wage parity for contract workers under comparable conditions; contract labourers deserve equal pay for similar work, reflecting principles of fair treatment.

ORDER :

(D. BHARATHA CHAKRAVARTHY, J.)

A.The Writ Petition:

This writ petition challenges the impugned award issued by the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), who is the authority under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), on 30.04.2021. It seeks to quash the award concerning the directions provided in paragraph No. 12 (ii) to (vii) and to assert that the consequent findings in the award are illegal, contrary, and in complete derogation of the provisions of the Act and the rules established thereunder, and for further orders. In the challenged award, the 2^nd respondent considered the application of the 1^st respondent – Union as per rule 25 (2) (v)(a) of the Contract Labour (Central) Rules, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Central Rules'). After conducting an inquiry and evaluating the cases of both parties, it granted the following reliefs in paragraph No. 12, which is extracted hereunder:

“ORDER

(i). The Claim of the Claimant Union for the payment of same and similar wages under the provision of Rule 25(2)(v)(a)&(b) is DISMISSED.

(ii). However, all contract workers employed in the "Coal Handling System" of the Establishment of the Respondent shall be paid the Minimum wages being paid to the contract workers who handle coal anywhere in India, as ordered by the Coal India Ltd., and also being paid by NLCIL in it's Coal Unit at Talabira, Odhisha. Such wages of the High Power Committee is to be paid with effect from 01-06-2021 and also at the rates as and when revised by the Coal India Ltd., This Minimum wage shall consist of Basic, VDA etc., as being paid in Coal India Ltd.,

(iii). All contract workers employed in the "other Divisions" of the Establishment of the Respondent shall be entitled for the "Settlement wages" as being paid to the contract workers employed in the NLC Thermal Power Station at Neyveli Campus.

(iv). From the very first day of employment, all contract workers employed in the Establishment of the Respondent shall also be entitled for the Group Insurance Coverage on par with the contract workers employed in the NLC Thermal Power Station at Neyveli campus.

(v). The rate of wages in the tender documents shall be provided accordingly to enable the contractor concerned to smoothly pass such minimum benefits to the eligible workers.

(vi). The Chief Executive Officer of the Respondent should be informed of and satisfied before stopping any contract worker from employment in order to guard against such frequent complaints of change of contract workers with a view to extract money. Also the particulars such as name, designation, date of joining, date of cessation, division, reason(s) for stoppage etc., need to be entered by the Head of the HR Department in a prescribed Register and the same should be initialed by the said C.E.O and also made available to the Officers of this Authority whenever demanded.

(vii). The above Order shall come into effect from 1.6.2021.”

Aggrieved by the same, the Management has filed the present Writ Petition.

B.Case of the Management:

2. The case of the Management is that on 10.05.2019, the trade union submitted a petition to the Management demanding wage parity for contract workers, based on the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in C.A.No.213 of 2013 dated 26.10.2016. Subsequently, on 20.05.2019, the trade union submitted a similar petition to the