Court suspends KP govt decision on minimum wage

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesdaysuspended the KP government decision of increasing minimum wage to Rs15,000 for unskilled workers in the province.
A division bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani suspended the KP government decision that had increased the minimum wage to Rs15000 from previous Rs12,000.
The bench directed the provincial government to constitute minimum wage board within a month time, as under the law the board would decide the minimum wages for approval of the provincial government.
The bench was hearing a writ petition of Saif Textile Mills and other 24 industrial units of the province, which had challenged the increase in the high court.Qazi Ghulam Dastageer, lawyer for the industrial units, submitted before the bench that the Pakistan Tehreek-i Insaf-led provincial government had unlawfully increased the minimum wage of unskilled workers in the province.
He submitted that under the law the government should first constitute minimum wage board to decide the minimum wage. The counsel stated that the KP government increased the minimum wage without fulfilling the legal procedure. The government had announced minimum wage for the unskilled labourers at Rs12,000 per month in the annual budget for 2014-15 and presented the same at the provincial assembly on June 14, 2014.
The decision was taken in line with the federal government that in its annual budget for the current fiscal had also fixed the minimum wages at Rs12,000 for the unskilled workers of different organisations and factories.
However, later during the debate on budget in the provincial assembly the opposition raised the issue on the floor of the house and urged the government to revise the wages for the unskilled workers and fix it at Rs15,000. The government conceded to the opposition demand and fixed the minimum wage at Rs15,000 per month for the unskilled workers.