The Supreme Court on Friday said that no coercive action should be taken till end of July against private companies, which have not paid wages to their employees during the coronavirus lockdown.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah said on the issue of payment of wages has to be settled through negotiations between employees and employers.
The court asked the state governments to facilitate negotiations and file its report with the labour commissioners concerned.
The Apex Curt has given four more weeks to Centre to reply on the legality of its March 29 notification in which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had mandated payment of full wages during the lockdown period.
The bench was hearing petitions filed by several companies, challenging the Ministry of Home Affairs order to pay full wages to employees during the 54 days period of lockdown.
