The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday declined the UPA government’s plea to stay an order of the Karnataka high court that directed it to pay minimum wage rates to anyone employed under the UPA’s flagship rural employment guarantee act. The SC, while admitting the Centre’s plea, did not agree to stay the high court’s order.
While civic activists were jubilant at the day’s developments, few knew that the SLP (special leave petition) was the result of a bitter tussle between prime minister Manmohan Singh and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh.
For long, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and the issue of payment of minimum wages has been a bone of contention between Singh and Ramesh. While Ramesh pressed for payingminimum wages, Singh was adamant that they would be paid less.
In a sharp letter on December 19, Singh finally “ordered” Ramesh to file an SLP and ensure that another ongoing case in the Andhra Pradesh high court did not result in an absolute order that would prove embarrassing to the UPA. For over a year Singh has been adamant that the government will not pay minimum wages to labourers working under the MNREGA.
However, the government’s notification to virtually freeze the wages below the minimum wages was struck down by the Karnataka high court in an order dated September 23, 2011. It directed the UPA to pay wages as enshrined in the Minimum Wages Act to anyone employed under MNREGA.
A worried Singh then asked Ramesh to ensure that an SLP be filed in the SC challenging the order of the Karnataka high court. But in a letter dated October 30, 2011, Ramesh opposed the move to file an SLP. In fact, he reiterated his position in a second note addressed to the PM’s principal secretary on December 12, 2011. But the PM would have none of it.
According to sources in the prime minister’s office (PMO), the PM wrote to Ramesh asking him to file an SLP immediately as well as make all efforts to ensure that the ongoing case in the AP high court on the same issue did not become final without the government able to have a say in the matter.
“The PM was responding to Ramesh’s note of December 12 strongly opposing the filing of an SLP,” a senior official familiar with the issue told DNA. Ramesh made a strong argument against challenging the Karnataka high court order and had instead suggested an alternative.
Ramesh was pushing the issue emboldened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s plea to the PM on November 11, 2010, asking him to look into the matter. But the PM would have none of it and pointed out that the matter was being discussed in government for quite some time. Sources in the Union rural development ministry told DNA that the PM’s position on the issue was driven by Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia who has consistently opposed the MNREGA. Soon after receiving the letter from the PM, Ramesh wrote back to him on December 20 pointing out that he would follow his directions.
Faced with such overwhelming opposition from the PM as well as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Ramesh directed his ministry to prepare the SLP in consultation with the Union law ministry, though he also directed the officials to ensure that the SLP was not overly confrontational.
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