Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. v. State of Kerala
(2020) 1 KLT 686
In the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam
W.A. 979/2018
Before Justice K. V. Chandran and Justice V.G. Arun
Decided on January 23, 2020

Relevancy of the case: Payment of wages through a Wage Payment System (WPS) for selected banks

Statutes & Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 6, 7)
• The Kerala Minimum Wages (Amendment) Rules, 2015 (Rule 29)
• The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (Section 11)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• Kerala Minimum Wages (Amendment) Rules, 2015 introduced a procedure by which inter alia the payment of wages has been enabled through a Wage Payment System (‘WPS’ for short) facilitated with the help of information technology.
• The amended rules and the WPS system listed a total of 16 banks for the facilitation of payment of wages.

Opinion of the Bench

• There can be no ground taken of the maintenance of records digitally being against the provisions of the Act, since Sections 6 & 7 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 validate digital maintenance of documents, records or information which are to be maintained under any law and deems it to be proper maintenance as per that enactment.
• The choice of Bank vests exclusively with the employee and there cannot be any insistence by the Department or the employer. If the facility for fund transfer is available through the WPS, it can be availed by the employers at their option and with the consent of the employee.

Final Decision

• The department cannot insist on such payments through the WPS, the establishments/employers could voluntarily make such payments to the accounts of the employees belonging to other banks as well.
• Writ Appeals are partly allowed and it is directed that the employers of the scheduled employments may be granted three months time to commence uploading of Form XIV in the Wage Payment System.
• There can be no mandatory insistence that the minimum wages will be paid through the bank accounts or through the WPS system of the Department.