AIR 1958 SUPREME COURT 578 ::1961 (1) LabLJ 339 ::1958-59 14 FJR 211 ::1958 SCJ 1113 ::1959 SCR 12

Supreme Court Of India

19th March, 1958

Hon'ble Judge(s): N. H. Bhagwati, B. P. Sinha, S. Jafer Imam, J. L. Kapur, P. B. Gajendragadkar , JJJ

(A) Industrial Disputes Act (14 of 1947) , S.2(rr)— Wages - Concepts of living wage, minimum wage and fair wage discussed. Words and Phrases. Constitution of India , Art.39, Art.43— Minimum Wages Act (11 of 1948) , S.4— Broadly speaking wages have been classified into three categories, viz. (1) the living wage, (2) the fair wage and (3) the minimum wage.(Para 50) The 'living wage' should enable the male earner to provide for himself and his family not merely the bare essentials of food, clothing and shelter but a measure of frugal comfort including education for the children, protection against ill-health, requirements of essential social needs, and a measure of insurance against the more important misfortunes including old age.(Para 51) This is the ideal to which our social welfare state has to approximate in an attempt to ameliorate the living conditions of the workers.(Para 52) Most employers and some Provincial Governments consider that the 'minimum wage' can at present be only a bare subsistence wage. But according to the concept of 'minimum wage' adopted by the Committee on Fair Wages, a minimum wage must provide not merely for the bare sustenance of life but for the preservation of the efficiency of the worker. For this purpose, the minimum wage....