Pay minimum wages to injured, power board told

Worker lost hand at work ■

Hyderabad High Court observed that it was difficult for a family to live with a meagre salary of `5,000 and directed Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Ltd to consider paying minimum wages to a contract worker who had lost his right hand during a repair work.

A division bench comprising Justices C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and G. Shyam Prasad was dealing with a contempt case by P. Venkateshwarlu of Mahbubnagar district, seeking punishment of authorities concerned for not providing him employment despite the court order.

The petitioner had met with an accident while he was working with a contractor of the TSSPDCL and had approached the High Court seeking direction to the power company to provide employment to him. A single judge dismissed his petition after which he made a fresh appeal.

While disposing his case in 2016, the bench said: “It is true that in a strict sense a contract labourer, working under a contractor, may not have the right to claim employment, one cannot ignore the ground reality that in whatever capacity the petitioner was made to work, he has lost his valuable limb while serving the TSSPDCL, which, undoubtedly, is ‘State’ within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution.”

The bench directed the authorities to consider engaging the petitioner at least on contingency basis, if not on permanent one, based on his educational qualifications. When the case came up for hearing on Friday, TSSPDCL counsel submitted that the authorities decided to provide him a job as office subordinate with a salary of `5,000 per month.

Counsel for petitioner D.L. Pandu submitted that it would difficult to run a family with such meagre amount and urged the court direct the authorities to provide minimum wages to the petitioner.

While directing the authorities to consider the case on humanitarian grounds, the bench posted the case for three weeks.