SC dismisses BPL plea, asks firm to pay workmen wages

The Supreme Court has asked BPL Ltd to pay within a month, full wages to its employees whose services were allegedly terminated after the closure of the firm's Bangalore unit.

A Bench headed by Justice S B Sinha, while rejecting BPL's plea, asked it to pay wages (last drawn) to 15 workmen within one month during the pendency of the dispute before the court.

BPL had submitted that since its establishment had been closed, the workmen, after having accepted compensation, are not entitled to reinstatement or wages.

Challenging the Karnataka High Court's interim order that asked the company to pay wages, BPL said it was under a process of debt restructuring and was not in a position to take any financial burden.

It further added that its annual report for 2006-07 showed an accumulated loss of around Rs 558 crore.

"Only two manufacturing units are (now) working and these two were incurring heavy losses in their operation and are not able to meet the fixed costs including salary to its employees," the petition stated.

Besides, it said that wages under Section 17 B of the Industrial Disputes Act are paid to workmen only when they are illegally removed, without compensation.