Hi,
I just happened to read the entire judgment; the summary of it is:
1. The Shops and Commercial Establishment Act covers all establishments where any commercial activity is carried out.
The judgment was given on the contention by the Airfrite & Cargo Courier company claiming that it is not covered under the Shops & Commercial Establishment Act.
The Learned Judge clarified the meaning, the soul of the said act, and with various examples clarified that the establishment is covered.
2. The issue of the applicability of the Minimum Wages Act for this said company was established as per defining "Minimum Wages Act."
The company's contention that as it pays higher wages, it does not come under the Min Wage Act.
As per the act, state governments were authorized to decide the minimum wages for a said period and decide the DA allowance.
The contention here was that "As per the Labor officer, the act defines Minimum wages into 2 separate parts:
Minimum wage and DA as 2 separate components.......
Here the said company was paying wages higher than the minimum wages prescribed but was issued notice by the Labor officer that it has to issue DA allowance as per the ACT,
The company was paying various allowances (City compens, HRA, medical, Insurance, Tiffin, Variable DA, etc.) which when consolidated was pretty higher than the minimum wages amount.
The company did not agree with the Labor officer's definition and was fined for not fulfilling his order of payment of DA allowance with retro effect.
The Company went to appeal in Karnataka High court against the order of the Labor officer and lost the case.
The HC too defined that the Karnataka Minimum Wages Act defines basic & DA separately, and DA has to be compulsorily paid as per the Govt notification.
In the appeal at SC, the Judgment was given that the High court order was wrong, and the contention of the Labor officer was erroneous.
The Total wages paid to the employee (excluding any subsidies) are to be considered for checking under Minimum Wages Act.
The ACT per se does not define a separate breakup of Basic & DA, and the total consolidated should be considered.
All businesses are covered by the Shop & Estb Act, & Minimum Wages Act across India.