Supreme Court upholds validity of Majithia wage board

In a victory for working journalists and newspaper employees, Supreme Court Friday upheld the validity of the Majithia wage board, saying that its recommendation are based on genuine consideration.

It also junks newspaper organisations’ challenge to the constitutional validity of the working journalists and newspaper employees act.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam also upheld the procedure adopted by the Majithia wage board, holding that the variations pointed out in procedure was not grave in nature. The court also upheld the independence of the two members, holding that their mere association to the government did not attribute any bias or independence to them.

The court held that the wage board will be implemented from Nov 11, 2011 when it was notified by the government and the arrears from Nov 11, 2011 to March 2014 will be paid to the employees in four equal instalments spread over a period of one year and the revised pay scales under the recommendation of Majithia wage board comes into force from April 2014.