BANWARILAL CHOWKHANI, PROPRIETOR OF CHOWKHANI TEA SEED ESTATES Vs. A.M. DESHMUKHYA, ADDL. DY. COMMR. AND ANR.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution for an appropriate writ quashing the order of Mr. A.M. Deshmukhya, Additional Deputy Commissioner working as an Authority under the Minimum Wages Act. The order impugned is dated 29 -1 -1958. As a matter of fact the order docs not amount to disposal of the case finally but the writ petition is against the order entertaining the complaint under Section 20 of the Minimum Wages Act. The facts shortly put are that the Petitioner is a proprietor of Chowkhani Tea Seed Estate comprising of an area of less than twenty -five acres of land, (the exact area is not stated) where tea seed plants are grown only for the purpose of collecting seeds and for a part of the season and it is alleged that only part -time labourers are engaged for the purpose. The local Government Labour Officer submitted an application under Section 20 of the Minimum Wages Act to the Additional Deputy Commissioner, Lakhimpur on 3 -9 -57 alleging that the Petitioner was not paying the minimum rate of wages fixed by the Government to the labourers engaged by him for the purpose of work in the Estate between 30 -3 -1952 and 12 -4 -1957 and the owner has violated provisions of Section 12 of the Minimum Wages Act.

(2.) THE term "scheduled employment" is defined in Section 2(g) of the Minimum Wages Act, which runs as follows:

(3.) I agree.