NDLI: Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha & Anr. Vs. The State of Gujarat

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Constitution of India Arts. 352 Factories Act 355 and 356 1948 55 and 56 51 ss.5 54
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Act(s) Referred	Constitution of India Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948)
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4 Referred Case 5 Referred Case 6 Referred Case 7
Case Type	Writ Petition
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Others
Headnote	Factories Act, 1948 – ss.5, 51, 54, 55 and 56 – Constitutionof India – Arts. 352, 355 and 356 – A trade union with a state-widepresence and another with a national presence u/Art.32 of theConstitution challenged the validity of the State’s notifications dated17.04.2020 and 20.07.2020 – The notification dated 17.04.2020issued u/s.5 of the Factories Act exempted all registered factories‘from various provisions relating to weekly hours, daily hours,intervals for rest etc. for adult workers’ u/ss. 51, 54, 55 and 56 –The State Government issued another notification on 20.07.2020and extended the exemption granted to factories from 20.07.2020till 19.10.2020 – The State government justifies the action on theground that industrial employers are faced with financial stringencyin the economic downturn resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19– It was further contended that the COVID-19 pandemic is a ‘publicemergency’ as defined in s.5 of the Factories Act – Held: The poweru/s.5 of the Factories Act can be exercised in a ‘public emergency’ –The explanation states that to constitute a public emergency, theremust be a grave emergency – The emergency must be of such a natureas to threaten the security of India or a part of its territory – Thethreat to the security of India or a part of the territory must be causedby war, external aggression or an internal disturbance – Theexpression ‘internal disturbance’ cannot be divorced from its context,or be read in a manner divorced from the other two expressionswhich precede it – They are indicative of the gravity of the causewhich threatens the security of India or a part of its territory – Aninternal disturbance must be of a similar gravity – In the instantcase, the economic slowdown created by COVID-19 pandemic doesnot qualify as an internal disturbance threatening the security ofthe State – The notifications in question make significant departuresfrom the mandate of the Factories Act – They (i) increase the dailylimit of working hours from 9 hours to 12 hours; (ii) increase theweekly work limit from 48 hours to 72 hours, which translates into12 hours work-days on 6 days of the week; (iii) negate the spreadover of time at work including rest hours, which is typically fixed at10.5 hours; (iv) enable an interval of rest every 6 hours, as opposedto 5 hours; and (iv) mandate the payment of overtime wages at arate proportionate to the ordinary rate of wages, instead of overtimewages at the rate of double the ordinary rate of wages as providedu/s.59 – The notifications legitimize the subjection of workers toonerous working condiditions at a time when their feeble bargainingpower stands whittled by the pandemic – Clothed with exceptionalpowers u/s.5, the State cannot permit workers to be exploited in amanner that renders the hard-won protections of the Factories Actillusory – Therefore, the notifications dated 17.04.2020 and20.07.2020 are quashed and the overtime wages of all the eligibleworkers are directed to be paid, in accordance with the provisionsof s.59 of the Factories Act who were working since the issuance ofthe notifications.The Factories Act, 1948 – Scheme and objects – discussed.Labour Law – Labour welfare – Social and Economic Valueof ‘Overtime’ – discussed.Labour Law – Constitution of India – Constitution vision ofsocial and economic democracy – discussed.
Judge	Hon'ble Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud
Neutral Citation	2020 INSC 572
Petitioner	Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha & Anr.
Respondent	The State Of Gujarat
SCR	[2020] 13 S.C.R. 886
Judgement Date	2020-10-01
Case Number	7087

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