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Niren De, Attorney-General, S. S. Javali and S. P. Nayar, for respondents Nos. 1 and 2 (C.A. No. 1617 of 1967) and respondent No. 1 (in W.P. No. 207 of 1967). S. S. Khanduja, for respondent No. 2 (in W.P. No. 207 of 1967).

R. Gopalakrishnan, for the intervener (in W.P. No. 207 of 1967).

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Hegde, J. The above mentioned appeal by certificate as well as the petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution raise identical questions of law for decision. In both these proceedings the validity of the notification issued by the Government of Mysore in S.O. 1038 dated the 1st June 1967 fixing the minimum wages of different classes of employees in residential hotels and eating houses the State of Mysore, under the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (to be hereinafter referred to as the Act) is called into question. The Civil Appeal arises from the decision of the High Court of Mysore rejecting the various contentions advanced on behalf of some of the hotel owners questioning the validity of the impugned notification. The writ petition is filed by the All Mysore Hotels Association, Bangalore and the Madras Woodlands Hotel raising those very contentions. The impugned notification was challenged on several grounds before the High Court but in this Court only some of those grounds were pressed. The grounds urged in this Court are:

powers the appropriate Government to add to either part of the Sch. any employment in respect of which it is of opinion that the minimum rates of wages should be fixed under the Act.

The Sch. to the Act as it originally stood did not include residential hotels and eating houses but they were brought into part I of the Sch. by the State Government on June 18, 1959 in exercise of its powers under s. 27. The State Government of Mysore fixed the minimum rates of wages to different categories of employees in residential hotels and eating houses situate within the municipal limits of Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Mangalore and Belgaum as well as in the area of the Kolar Gold Fields Sanitary Board as per its notification published on June 16, 1960. That notification was quashed by the High Court of Mysore on November 10, 1961, at the instance of some of the proprietors of residential hotels and eating houses in proceedings under Art. 226 of the Constitution on the sole ground that as the notification in question applied only to certain parts of the State and not to the whole of it, it was invalid. A fresh notification under s. 5(1)(b) of the Act containing certain proposals was issued by the State Government for fixing minimum wages for different classes of employees in residential hotels and eating houses, on December 9, 1964 but no further action was taken on the basis of that notification. On October 28, 1966, the State Government after consulting the Mysore State Minimum Wages Advisory Board published in the Official Gazette fresh proposals under s. 5 (1 ) (b) for fixing minimum wages for different categories of employees in residential hotels and eating houses in the State. The parties affected were called upon to submit their representations regarding those proposals. Various representations from the interested parties were received. Thereafter the Minister for Labour summoned a meeting of the interested parties on April 27, 1967 for considering those proposals. That meeting was attended by the representatives of the employers as well as employees. It was also attended by the representatives of various hotel owners' associations in the State. At the meeting the employers 'representatives pleaded that the minimum wages proposed to be fixed are excessive but the representatives of the employees' asserted that the proposed rates are low and that they should be enhanced. After considering the written as well as the oral representations made by the concerned parties, the impugned notification was issued. The minimum wages fixed under that notification is somewhat higher than that proposed.

Government. Before minimum wages in any employment can be fixed it will be necessary to collect considerable data. That cannot be done by the legislature. It can be best done by the Government. The legislature has determined the legislative policy and formulated the same as a binding rule of conduct. The legislative policy is enumerated with sufficient clearness. The Government is merely charged with the duty of implementing that policy. There is no basis for saying that the legislature had abdicated any of its legis- lative functions. The legislature has prescribed two different procedures for collecting the necessary data, one contained in s.5(1)(a) and the other in s. 5(1)(b). In either case it is merely a procedure for gathering the necessary information. The Government is not bound by the advice given by the committee appointed under s. 5(1)(a). Discretion to select one of the two procedures prescribed for collecting the data is advisedly left to the Government. In the case of a particular employment, the Government may have sufficient data in its possession to enable it to formulate proposals under s. 5 ( 1)(b). Therefore it may not be necessary for it to constitute a committee to tender advice to it but in the case of another employment it may not be in possession of sufficient data. Therefore it might be necessary for it to constitute a committee to collect the data and tender its advice. If the Government is satisfied that it has enough material before it to enable it to proceed under s. 5 (1) (b) it can very well do so. Which procedure should be adopted in any particular employment depends on the nature of the employment and the information the Government has in its possession about that employment. Hence the powers conferred on the Government cannot be considered as either unguided or arbitrary. In the, instant case as seen earlier the question of fixing wages for the various categories of employees in residential hotels and eating houses was before the Government from 1960 and the Government had taken various steps in that regard. It is reasonable to assume that by the time the Government published the proposals in pursuance of which the impugned notification was issued it had before it adequate material on the basis of which it could formulate its proposals. Before publishing those proposals, the Government had consulted the advisory committee constituted under s. 7. Under those circumstances we are unable to accede to the contention that either the power conferred under s. 5(1) is an arbitrary power or that the same had been arbitrarily exercised.

In the result the appeal and the writ petition fail. They are dismissed with costs. Hearing fee one set. The owners of residential hotels and eating houses are permitted to pay the arrears of minimum wages accrued up till now within six months from this date subject to the condition they pay interest on those arrears from the due dates till payment at 6% per annum.

R.K.P.S.			      Appeal  and   petition
dismissed.