The Capital has become the State with the highest minimum wages in the country, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

This was after the approval of the Supreme Court on the higher minimum wage policy of the Delhi government, which, Mr. Kejriwal said, was a reward of a “five-year struggle by the Delhi government” to increase minimum wages for 55 lakh beneficiaries.

Addressing a press conference at the Delhi Secretariat on Monday, Mr. Kejriwal said the Delhi government had notified the hike in the wages of the workers and gave comparative figures quoting the wages in the year 2015, when the Delhi government started demanding higher wages for its workers.

“This is an important step to tackle recession and poverty in the city. We have worked hard in the last five years to increase the minimum wages for the labourers working in the city. The Supreme Court verdict on our minimum wage policy is the result of our five-year struggle. The policy will benefit 55 lakh beneficiaries and labourers in the city,” he said.

₹14,842 per month

“We fought for the rights of the poor. The national-level minimum wage is ₹4,628 per month and in Delhi it is ₹14,842 per month, at least three times higher than the national level minimum wages,” he said further.

According to Mr. Kejriwal, the step was the “most efficient and the most effective” in “these times of economic slowdown” in the country.

In April 2016, he said, the Delhi government created a minimum wage committee having members from the Union government, labourers and several trades and industry associations, for the creation of minimum wage policy in the Capital.

The Lieutenant-Governor, however, rejected the plea on the ground that the committee had been formed without permission.

“We again formed a committee with the permission of the Lieutenant-Governor and we implemented its recommendations. After that, the Trade and Industry Association moved to the High Court. The High Court rejected our notification,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

“After that we went to the Supreme Court. The court asked us to form a committee within four months along with the objecting association. We set up a committee in four months and fixed the minimum wage. That was accepted by the Supreme Court,” he said further.

After the notification was issued, however, the Chief Minister said, it was challenged by 44 various employers’ associations/forums in the High Court.

The Delhi government, he said, then decided to approach the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court.

“In an interim verdict on November 1, 2018, the Supreme Court directed that the wages under Delhi government’s March 2017 notification will remain valid until due process is completed,” he said.

“On October 14, 2019 the Supreme Court gave its nod to the government to notify the enhanced minimum wages as proposed by Labour department by setting aside the Delhi High Court order and all objections/issues raised by various employers before Supreme Court,” he added.