DUDUWALA AND CO Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M/s.Duduwala & Co., which owns mica mines in the District of Bhilwara (Rajasthan), has filed this writ petition under Art 226 of the Constitution praying that The Minimum Wages (Rajasthan Amendment and Validation) Act, 1969, may be (declared void, as it has been enacted by the State Legislature, which had no authority under the Constitution to enact laws relating to the mines.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to this petition are in a nut-shell as follows : THE State Government by a notification dated 31-7-1965, prescribed certain minimum rates of wages for the work-men working in the mica mines in the State of Rajasthan. THE petitioner and some 16 other owners of the mines challenged the validity of that notification inter alia on the ground that it was issued on the advice of the Advisory Board which was not properly constituted u/s. 9 of the Minimum Wages Act (Act No. 11 1948). This Court accepted the plea of the petitioner and declared that the minimum wages prescribed by the State Govt. on the advice of an illegally constituted Advisory Board were vitiated and, therefore, struck down the impugned notification. This judgment was delivered in Hariram vs. State of Raj.(1).

(3.) THE writ petition is, therefore, allowed, the Minimum Wages (Rajasthan Amendment and Validation) Act, 1969, is declared ultra vires the powers of State Legislature. No order as to costs.