Minimum wages, NSIT bills passed by Assembly

New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Thursday passed the Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Bill 2017 and the Delhi Netaji Subhash University of Technology Bill 2017. The bills were reintroduced in the Assembly on Wednesday. The Minimum Wages (Delhi) Amendment Bill 2017 seeks to make the punishment to violators of minimum wages norm stricter. 

Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai said that in the amended bill, the penalty for violation of law had been raised from the existing Rs 500 to Rs 50,000 and minimum imprisonment of six months increased to three years. The House had earlier passed both bills in 2015 and sent them to the central government for clearance. But the bills were returned by the President to the assembly for “reconsideration”.

“In this Bill, we have also made provisions that company or factory owners will not be able to sack the complainant (worker) till the case is resolved. We have also proposed time-bound proceedings,” Mr Rai told the House. In March, lieutenant-governor Anil Baijal approved the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s proposal to hike minimum wages for labourers by 37 per cent.

The Delhi Netaji Subhash University of Technology Bill 2017 aims to accord the existing Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology (NSIT) the status of a university. The latest bill carries an additional change relating to the appointing authority in the university.