BIDI, BIDI LEAVES vs THE STATE OF BOMBAY

The Supreme Court ruled that Clauses 3 to 7 of the Notification dated June 11, 1958, issued under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, were ultra vires as they exceeded the powers conferred by Section 5 of the Act. The Court held that the Act only empowered the State Government to fix minimum wages and did not authorize it to resolve disputes regarding the rejection of bad bidis or payments for them. The doctrine of implied powers could not be invoked to justify these clauses, as they modified essential terms of the employment contract, which was beyond the scope of the Act.