GHMC gets time for poll exercise

HYDERABAD, July 3: A two-member special bench comprising Justice V. Eswaraiah and Justice Vilas V. Afzulpurkar on Friday extended the time for completing the pre-election exercise to conduct elections for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation by a month.

The bench was dealing with an application moved by Mr S.P. Singh, special officer and commissioner of the GHMC, seeking extension of time to complete the process of identifying and marking constituencies for elections in the limits of the GHMC. While granting extension, the bench asked the GHMC to complete the process by the end of August.

Earlier, the bench had directed that the exercise should be completed by July and complete the elections by August 2009. Mr V.Ch. Naidu, counsel for the municipal administration told the court that there was a delay in completing pre-election process as the GHMC staff was engaged in the recently concluded polls for Parliament and the Assembly.

Order on PCC land reserved

The AP High Court on Friday reserved orders on a writ petition challenging the allotment of land to AP Congress Committee at Bhimraobada in the city to construct the party office. The court heard the arguments based on a petition filed by the Campaign for Housing and Tenural Rights (Chatri), a voluntary organisation. The petitioner contended that the action of the government was contrary to state policy only to lease out and not sell land to political parties.

The advocate-general, Mr D.V. Sitharam Murthy, contended that the state government was empowered to direct the housing board to allot a land for a specific purpose. While citing the rule position, he told the court that the land was allotted after paying relevant compensation to the housing board. The counsel for the Congress argued that the allotment was for a public purpose and it did not warrant any interference by the High Court.

NREGS wage order suspended

The AP High Court suspended a notification issued by the Centre fixing Rs 80 as the minimum wage per day for each labourer under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Justice Nooty Ramamohana Rao of the High Court, while dealing with a petition filed by AP Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union challenging the notification, restored the Rs 119 minimum wage fixed by the state government.

Mr K. Balagopal, counsel for the petitioner, told the court that the Centre had issued a notification on January 1, 2009, by fixing the minimum wage at Rs 80 per day under Section 6(1) of the NREG Act.
Mr A. Rajasekhar Reddy, assistant solicitor general, defended the Centre’s action by saying that the Act specifies nine hours of work with half-an-hour rest as the pre-requisite for the minimum wage to be claimed by any worker.

While responding to the arguments, the judge said: “I am afraid this distinction will not hold much water. A seven-hour work schedule is the yardstick for earning a minimum wage in a day and if the wages paid are less than the proportionate rate, then the very purpose of thrusting an obligation under the Minimum Wages Act is defeated. An improper remuneration would lead to later day claims which will become difficult to verify.”

Labour court’s order suspended

Justice N. Ramamohana Rao of the AP High Court on Friday suspended an order of the Labour Court at Kadapa directing a private engineering college to implement the recommendations of the Pay Revision Commission of 1999 and to pay house rent and dearness allowance to its staff.
While admitting a petition filed by Madina Education Society of Kadapa challenging the Labour Court order, the petitioner contended that the education institution was not an “industry”.