Plantation companies to pay Rs. 1000 to workers following court order

The statement further notes that Regional Plantation Companies (RPC’s) will fulfill their obligations.

However, they reiterated that the fixed wage of Rs 1,000/- per day will not be beneficial to the worker, in the long run and that the earning model which was offered and rejected, could have made a massive, positive impact on the earning capacity of the estate worker.

“This would have been a mammoth departure from outdated colonial era models currently in place, and would undoubtedly have improved worker livelihoods monumentally," the statement said.

The Court of Appeal refused to grant an interim order to plantation companies suspending payment until the writ petitions filed by them are heard, a top official said.

Twenty Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) applied to court seeking to quash by way of Writ of Certiorari (Writ Petition) the decision of the Wages Board to increase the minimum daily wage of estate workers to Rs. 1,000.

The RPCs contend such a wage increase would cause significant losses to them and impact the overall industry adversely.