Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has granted interim relief to 49 sweepers, scavengers and contingent workers engaged at various police stations across Rachakonda commissionerate and Nalgonda, Suryapet and Yadadri districts, directing the home department to pay them minimum wages after finding that the petitioners had made out a prima facie case.Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka passed the directions while hearing a petition filed by the workers seeking minimum wages and arrears from the date of their initial appointments, and posted the matter for further hearing on Aug 17.The petitioners contended that they had been working for several years in police stations, district police offices and reserve police units but were being paid only consolidated wages instead of the minimum wages notified under Minimum Wages Act, 1948, adding that the issue had already been settled by earlier high court judgments in similar cases, later affirmed by the Supreme Court.The govt pleader, opposing the plea, submitted that the petitioners were part-time or outsourced contingent workers engaged through a cooperative society, and that their wages had been paid as per govt orders issued from time to time, with fixation of minimum wages involving policy and budgetary considerations falling within the govt’s domain.After considering the submissions, the court directed the authorities to pay the workers minimum wages as fixed by the concerned district collectors under the Minimum Wages Act and Gazette Notification dated October 3, 2016, as revised periodically, clarifying that the payments would remain subject to the final outcome of the writ petition.
