Patna HC upholds Midday meal cooks’ plea for higher pay

There are around 40,000 cooks engaged by the schools to run Midday meal schemes in the state. They are paid ₹1,250 per month as per the order issued by the state government. However, once the minimum wages rules are applied, they will be entitled to get around ₹7000 per month.

Cooks engaged by the government schools for Midday meals are entitled for payment of wages in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act, the Patna High Court ruled on Friday.

The Patna high court. The single-member bench of Justice PB Bajanthi, in a case filed on behalf of the Rashtriya Madhyan Bhojan Rasoiya Front, said the cooks shall not be denied the minimum wages, as the Act is binding on the state as well as the Union government. (HT Photo)

The single-member bench of Justice PB Bajanthi, in a case filed on behalf of the Rashtriya Madhyan Bhojan Rasoiya Front, said the cooks shall not be denied the minimum wages, as the Act is binding on the state as well as the Union government.

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 is a Central legislation aimed at statutory fixation of minimum rates of wages in the employments where sweated labour is prevalent with possibility for exploitation of unorganized labour.

There are around 40,000 cooks engaged by the schools to run Midday meal schemes in the state. They are paid ₹1,250 per month as per the order issued by the state government. However, once the minimum wages rules are applied, they will be entitled to get around ₹7000 per month.

The court refused to entertain the state government’s plea that the cooks are paid less as it was a part-time work. “Moreover, it’s a centrally-funded scheme and the Central government offers the same ( ₹1,200) amount for payment of remuneration to cooks,” argued the state government.

The bench said that the current payment to the cooks is not according to the wages paid to an unskilled labourers ( ₹230 per day) engaged.

In 2018 also, the state government had to revise the monthly remuneration of security guards engaged by the welfare department for protection of remand homes across the state. “Security guards had challenged the government’s provision for payment of a fixed remuneration of ₹2000 per month and the HC bench of Justice Madhuresh Prasad had ordered to ensure payment to them as per the minimum wages act,” said Sunil Pathak, a Patna High Court advocate who represented the security guards.