R.S. Pathak, J. - (1.) By this and the connected petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution the petitioners challenge the validity of a Government Order dated July 13, 1970 providing a wage structure for engineering industries in the State of Uttar Pradesh.
(2.) In pursuance of the recommendations made in paragraph 25 of Chapter XXVII of the Second Five Year Plan and in paragraph 20 of Chapter XV of the Third Five Year plan Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment decided by a Resolution dated December 12, 1964 to set up a Wage Board-'for the Engineering Industries, excluding the Steel plants for which a Wage Board was already in operation. Those engineering industries would include foundries except Those to which the recommendations of any other Wage Board had already 'been applied.
(3.) The Wage Board so set up consisted of a Chairman, two independent members, and the employers and workmen were represented by three members each. The terms of reference of the Board included the determination of the categories of employees who should be brought within the scope of the proposed wage fixation and the working out of a wage structure based on the principles of fair wages as set forth in the Report of the Committee on Fair Wages. In evolving the wage structure the Board was required to take into account, in addition to the considerations relating to fair wages, the needs of the industries in a developing economy, the special features of the engineering industries including aspects relating to exports, the requirements of social justice, the need for adjusting wage differentials in such a manner as to provide an incentive to workers for advancing their skill and the desirability of extending the system of payment by results. From the purview of the wage Board were excluded public sector undertakings which were run departmentally, establishments employing less than 50 workers and workshops attached to non-engineering establishments.;