FICUS PAX PRIVATE LTD. & ORS. VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & ORS.
Supreme Court of India (Full Bench (FB)- Three Judge)
Writ Petition (Civil), 10983 of 2022, Judgment Date: Jun 12, 2020
O R D E R
ASHOK BHUSHAN, J.
1.All these writ petitions except one(i.e. W.P.(civil) Diary No.10981/2020) have been filed by different employers, employers’ associations questioning the orders issued under Disaster Management Act, 2005 and other consequential orders issued by different States where directions have been issued that all the employers be it in the industries or in the shops, commercial establishment, shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their work place, on the due date, without any deduction, for the period their establishments are under closure during the lockdown.
2. In the writ petitions apart from challenging the D.O. dated 20.03.2020 issued by the Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, order dated 29.03.2020 issued by Government of India, Ministry of Home affairs, in exercise of powers under Section 10(2)(l) of Disaster Management Act, 2005, the vires of Section 10(2)(l) of Disaster Management Act, 2005, has also been questioned, in event, Section 10(2)(l) is interpreting as conferring power to Central Government to direct the private employers to make full payment of wages to the employees during the period of lockdown. In few of the writ petitions, directions have also been sought to subsidise 70 to 80 percent of the wages for the lockdown period by utilising funds collected by Employee State Insurance Corporation or the PM Cares Fund or through any other Government funds/schemes. To understand the nature of relief in different writ petitions, it shall be sufficient to refer reliefs claimed in few of the writ petitions since in other writ petitions reliefs claimed are more or less similar. In W.P.(Civil) D.No.10983/2020, Ficus Pax Limited Private Limited and others versus Union of India and others, the Union of India had filed a common counter affidavit and prayed that the counter affidavit be adopted in other writ petitions referred to in paragraph 4 of the counter affidavit. W.P.(Civil) Diary No.10983/2020 is being treated as leading writ petition. Various interventions applications have also been filed in the leading writ petition. The intervention applications filed in the leading writ petition are allowed.