Hyderabad: Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka of the Telangana High Court on Friday allowed a review petition filed by the state government, recalling its earlier directions relating to the publication of minimum wage notifications, and restored a writ petition for fresh adjudication under the framework of the Code on Wages, 2019.
The court also closed a connected contempt case filed by a labour union alleging non-compliance with its earlier order. The case was filed by the Telangana State Multiple Contractors Labour Union, which complained that the government had failed to publish five government orders issued between June 2021 and June 2022 revising minimum wages in the Telangana Gazette.
The union contended that the non-publication of the notifications was illegal, arbitrary, and contrary to the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and sought a direction to the authorities to publish them in the official gazette.
The High Court had in October 2024 disposed of a writ petition directing the authorities to take expeditious steps to publish the government orders within four weeks. Alleging that the directions had not been complied with even after the stipulated period, the union initiated contempt proceedings.
It also alleged that the Labour, Employment, Training and Factories Department had subsequently issued fresh preliminary notifications covering 73 scheduled employments while overlooking the earlier notifications, amounting to non-implementation of the court’s order.
Meanwhile, in its review petition, the state government argued that a division bench of the High Court had already dealt with the issue in a public interest litigation and directed revision and publication of minimum wages in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act. The government contended that the earlier wage revision orders were not issued following the statutory procedure, particularly as stakeholders had not been given an opportunity to raise objections in several categories.
It further contended that fresh preliminary notifications had therefore been issued for 73 scheduled employments and objections were invited from stakeholders before undertaking the wage revision exercise. The state also pointed out that the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, had since been repealed and replaced by the Code on Wages, 2019, with effect from November 21, 2025, and argued that this subsequent development was not brought to the court’s notice when the earlier order was passed.
Recalling the previous order, the court noted that it had originally directed publication of the government orders because official gazette publication serves as an authoritative reference for employers, workers, and enforcement agencies. The court had earlier observed that failure to publish the wage notifications in the gazette could jeopardise workers' interests and leave them vulnerable to possible manipulation by employers in the absence of an authoritative reference.
However, the court held that since the Minimum Wages Act was repealed and replaced by the Code on Wages, 2019, after disposal of the writ petition, the entire statutory framework governing the issue had undergone a significant change and said that it was appropriate to reconsider the matter in the light of the new legislation.
