PAYMENT OF WAGES (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2017 THE PAYMENT OF WAGES
(AMENDMENT) ACT, 2017 [Act No. 01 of 2017] [15th February, 2017] An Act further to
amend the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. Be
it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as
follows:-- (1) This Act may be called the Payment of Wages
(Amendment) Act, 2017. (2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the
28th day of December, 2016. For section 6
Preamble - PAYMENT OF WAGES (AMENDMENT)
ACT, 2017PREAMBLE
Wages
to be paid in current coin or currency notes or by cheque or crediting in bank
account.
"6.
All wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or by cheque or by
crediting the wages in the bank account of the employee:
Provided
that the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette,
specify the industrial or other establishment, the employer of which shall pay
to every person employed in such industrial or other establishment, the wages
only by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account.".
Section 3 - Repeal and savings
(1) The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016
(Ord. 9 of 2016) is hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any
action taken under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936), as amended by
the said Ordinance, shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the
corresponding provisions of the said Act, as amended by this Act.
Statement of Objects and Reasons -
PAYMENT OF WAGES (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2017
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS
AND REASONS
(1) The Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (the Act) regulates
the payment of wages of certain classes of employed persons. The Act was
amended several times and last amended in the year 2005. Section 6 of the Act
provides that all wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or in
both. However, proviso to said section enables the employer to pay the wages to
an employee either by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account
after obtaining his written authorisation.
(2) With the passage of time, technology has been
changed and a large section of the employed persons have their bank accounts.
The payment of wages through cheque or crediting it in the bank account of
employed persons will reduce the complaints regarding non-payment or less
payment of minimum wages, besides serving the objectives of digital and less
cash economy. The State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab,
Kerala and Haryana have already made provisions in the said Act for payment of
wages to the employed persons either by cheque or by crediting the wages in
their bank account, by making State amendments to the Act.
(3) The Government considered it necessary to bring a
legislation to make amendments to the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 so as to enable
the employer to pay the wages to the employed person also by cheque or
crediting it to their bank account and also to enable the appropriate
Government to specify the industrial or other establishments, by notification
in the Official Gazette, which shall pay to every employed person, the wages
only by cheque or by crediting in his bank account; and accordingly, introduced
the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha on 15th December,
2016. However, the said Bill could not be taken up for consideration and
passing in the Lok Sabha.
(4) As both the Houses of Parliament were not in
session and immediate action was required to be taken to ensure that the
benefits of the proposed legislation reach the employed person at the earliest,
the President promulgated the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 on
28th December, 2016.
(5) It is now proposed to replace the Payment of Wages
(Amendment) Ordinance, 2016 with the Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
(6) The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives.