President returns Delhi's minimum wages amendment bill

Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Thursday informed the house that President Pranab Mukherjee has returned the Minimum Wages (Delhi) amendment bill 2015 to the house for reconsideration.

"I received a letter today (Thursday) from LG dated March 8 through which I (was) apprised that the President has returned the Minimum Wages (Delhi) amendment bill 2015 to the house for reconsideration," Goel informed the house.

Meanwhile, Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai said the bill may be discussed in the assembly again and sent back to the President.

"This draft bill will have no bearing on the minimum wages hike that we implemented last week but the bill was to ensure that the private companies which employ labourers implement the wage hike," Rai told the house.

To take action against the violators, the Delhi assembly in 2015 had passed an amendment bill on minimum wages, which was pending with the central government.

In the amendment bill, the penalty for violating the law was increased from the existing Rs 500 to Rs 50,000 and minimum imprisonment of six months was increased to three years.

Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Friday had approved the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's proposal to hike minimum wages for labourers by around 37 per cent.

--IANS

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