A brief legal history of the Minimum Wages Act (1948) and its implementation in India

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Abstract

This report aims to provide a guide to track the development in the Minimum Wages Act since the Independence of India. Other goals include checking the related legal recourses available at the moment, studying the Act’s implementation in various states and noting its recent adjudication. The paper begins with a historical overview of how the Act came into being as well as a view on the amendments made into it. The constitutional mandate given to the Legislature so as to create such a law is also studied. The report then proceeds to examine the concrete implementation of the statutes as revealed by various government and academic reports. The legal resources available in case of violations of fixed minimum wages are traced; notice is made of recent cases of violations that have been taken to Court. Finally, we conclude that the Minimum Wages Act is a special legislation with the power to affect the lives of millions; therefore the rules and implementation of such an Act must of paramount importance to both central and state governments.