V. G. Oak, J. - (1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is directed against a decision of an authority under the Minimum Wages Act. Messrs, Jaswant Sugar Mills Ltd. , Meerut are the petitioner here.
(2.) THE writ petition has arisen under the following circumstances. Several employees of the petitioner filed applications under the Minimum Wages Act. Their case was that, the employer was bound to provide weekly rests to the employees' with wages In accordance with Rules made under the Minimum Wages Act. In spite of repeated demands by the employees, the employer refused to allow weekly rests. The employees, therefore, made claims for payments in lieu of weekly rests, and for compensation, There were in all 90 such applications for payment in lieu of weekly rests and compensation. All these claims were opposed by the employer on a variety of grounds. All the pleas raised in defence by the employer were overruled by the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Meerut acting as the authority under the Minimum Wages Act. He passed a consolidated order on 30-12-1958 allowing the various employees certain sums in lieu of weekly rests and Rs. 5/- as compensation in each case. The present petition by Messrs Jaswant Sugar Mills Limited, Meerut is directed against the order dated 30-12-1958.
(3.) INITIALLY , there were as many as 91 respondents in the writ petition. Several names were repeated. By a subsequent amendment, the number of the respondents has now been reduced to 20. Respondent No. 1 is the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Meerut sitting as the Authority under the minimum Wages Act. The remaining 19 respondents are the employees who succeeded before the Authority under the Minimum Wages Act.;