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Wage Board award has to be implemented in full, says SC

By The Assam Tribune

NEW DELHI, June 19 - The Supreme Court has directed that the Majithia Wage Board recommendations on wages for newspaper employees have to be �implemented in toto� and managements could not cite lack of funds for avoiding payments.

It also said in its judgement today that there was no difference between full-time employees and contract workers as far as the implementation of the Majithia Wage Board recommendations are concerned.

A two-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, had on May 3 reserved its judgement in a contempt petition against newspaper groups brought by newspaper employee unions, including the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ).

The court said that newspapers� defiance of the earlier court order was not �wilful�.

Earlier, counsel for many newspaper groups had argued that implementing the Wage Board�s recommendations would be beyond their paying capacity. The print media companies have said that any forced implementation would �cripple newspapers� finances�.

The newspaper unions had, however, argued that newspapers had the capacity to pay but were avoiding to do so.

The Majithia panel was set up by the Congress-led UPA government in 2007 and four years later, its recommendations were accepted by the Union Cabinet. � IANS

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