CHANDRA BHAVAN BOARDING AND LODGING BANGALORE Vs. STATE OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners are owners of residential hotels and eating-houses. In these petitions under Art. 226 of the Constitution, they have challenged the validity of the notification dated 1 June, 1967 (published in the Mysore Gazette dated 8 June, 1967) issued by the Government of Mysore under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, fixing minimum rates of wages for different classes for employees in residential hotels and eating-houses.

(2.) At the outset, it is useful to narrate briefly the history of the minimum-wage legislation and of fixation of minimum wages in hotel industry.

(3.) The Minimum Wages Fixing Machinery Convention was held at Geneva in the year 1928. The resolutions of that convention are embodied in Arts. 223 to 228 of the International Labour Code. The object of these resolutions, as stated in Art. 224, was to fix minimum wages in industries "in which no arrangements exist for the effective regulation of wages by collective agreements or otherwise, and wages are exceptionally low." For giving effect to those resolutions in India, the Central Legislature passed the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.