The Kerala High Court on Friday declined to stay the government order fixing the minimum wages of nurses working in private hospitals at ₹20,000.
When the petition filed by the Kerala Private Hospitals Association came up for hearing, the counsel for the association sought to stay the order. However, the court said that an interim order could be passed only after having a comprehensive hearing on the petition.
In the petition, secretary of the association Hussain Koya Thangal and others said the notification had certain procedural illegalities. According to the petitioners, the mode of fixation of minimum wages under Section 5 of the Travancore Cochin Literary Scientific and Charitable Societies Act had not been followed.
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Besides, the categorisation of private hospitals based on bed strength was illegal. As per the order, the revision of minimum wages was being implemented with retrospective effect from September 1, 2017. This was against the various principles laid down by judgments of the High Court and the Supreme Court.
The petitioners pointed out that the charter of demands of the unions should have been dealt with under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act. As per the provisions of the Act, when a demand for revision of wages was raised, the proper course for the government was to refer the disputes for conciliation.
If conciliation failed, a report should be forwarded and the matter should be referred to a court or tribunal. Therefore, the fixation of minimum wages should be based on the established principles of law and in accordance with the scheme of the enactment and any deviation would be illegal.
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As per the order, the minimum pay for nurses working in private hospitals with a bed strength up to 100 would be ₹20,000. If it was implemented, it would affect several hospitals, the petitioners said.
The petitioners pointed out that there was bar on issuing a fresh notification as the writ petition questioning the revision of wages implemented in 2009 was still pending before the High Court. In fact, all coercive steps against the members of the association was stayed by the court then.