GUWAHATI, March 23 - The Gauhati High Court has directed the management of the Janasadharan Printing and Publication Ltd, the publisher of the Assamese daily Janasadharan, to clear all the unpaid wages of their 38 employees till January, 2017 through the employees� respective bank accounts.
Besides, the Court has said the management of the Janasadharan Printing and Publication Ltd �shall make an endeavour to restart the newspaper (Janasadharan) publication� and the employees would render full cooperation to the management in this regard.
Moreover, the management would also make an endeavour to pay the current wages of the employees regularly, the Court has said.
It needs mention here that the Janasadharan management stopped publication of the newspaper allegedly without declaring closure or lock-out of the establishment. Moreover, the management did not lay off the employees concerned and the employees� were attending their duties as usual. However, the management stopped the employees' salaries without showing any reasons whatsoever.
This was challenged by the employees of the newspaper and they moved the Assistant Labour Commissioner of the State under the provision of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, arguing that they were entitled to claim their wages under the Payment of Wages Act.
The management challenged the petition of the employees before the Assistant Labour Commissioner, who rejected the pleas of the management on February 7. The management then moved the Gauhati High Court, which issued the above directive recently.
