The Court of Appeal (CA) turned down a request to issue an Interim Order suspending the operation of the Gazette Extraordinary dated April 30, 2024 issued by the Commissioner General of Labour determining the minimum daily wage of estate workers as Rs.1,700.
The Court refused this request when the writ petition filed by 21 plantation companies challenging the said gazette was considered before Justices Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Dhammika Ganepola.
The refusal was based on the submissions made by President’s Counsels Faizer Mustapha and Shavindra Rodrigo who appeared for the responding Minister of Labour and the Trade Unions, including the Ceylon Workers’ Congress, of the estate workers respectively.
The Court was of the view that the decision by the Government to increase the minimum daily wage of the estate workers is a policy decision aimed at the benefit and progress of the estate workers. Therefore, it is too early to issue such an interim order at this moment without further considering the petition, the Court held.
