The court quashed orders issued under the Minimum Wages Act due to prior ruling invalidating the underlying notification.

J U D G M E N T

These writ petitions have been filed to challenge separate orders issued by the authority under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the 1948 Act’), determining specific amounts payable to certain categories of employees of the petitioner. It is stated that the determination of the amounts payable to employees and the compensation directed to be paid to employees by the impugned orders was based on a Minimum Wages Notification, which has been set aside by a Division Bench of this court through judgment dated 18-12-2025 in W.A. No.1609/2025 .

2. Heard the learned Government Pleader also.

3. Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader and having perused the judgment of the Division Bench dated 18-12-2025 in WA No.1609/2025, I am of the view that the impugned orders cannot be sustained as the Minimum Wage Notification based on which the impugned orders have been issued, has already been set aside by this court.

4. Consequently, these writ petitions are allowed, and the orders impugned in these writ petitions shall stand quashed. This judgment shall not preclude the competent authority from determining any amount payable to the employees in question based on any subsequent notification issued under the 1948 Act or the Code on Wages, 2019 .

While disposing of these writ petitions, as above, I am conscious that the beneficiaries of the impugned orders are not parties to these writ petitions. While normally, this would have been fatal, since it is not disputed that the orders were based on a notification that has been set aside by a Division Bench of this Court, I am of the opinion that the petitioners need not be non-suited for the reason that the beneficiaries of the impugned orders are not parties to these writ petitions.