Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday, August 4, gave the state government one final opportunity to place complete facts before it in a batch of petitions challenging the long-pending revision of minimum wages, adjourning the matter to August 20 while making clear that no further extension would be granted.
A bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin, hearing petitions filed by workers’ organisations, said the central question raised in its order of July 28 remained unanswered, which is what the legal consequences are of the state having failed to issue final wage notifications under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, before that law was replaced by the Code on Wages, 2019, which came into force on November 21, 2025.
Counsel for the petitioners argued that wages in several categories of employment had gone unrevised for nearly two decades and alleged that the government’s latest steps would actually reduce wage benefits and leave room for workers to be exploited.
The state government, in response, said workers had continued to receive minimum wages along with variable dearness allowance (VDA), a component revised every six months based on the cost of living, even without formal notifications being issued.
The High Court held that oral submissions alone would not let it form a final view and directed the government to file a detailed affidavit explaining whether the VDA paid to workers over the years had, in substance, kept pace with the revised wage levels that should have been notified during the disputed period.
A joint commissioner of labour was present in court, as earlier directed, to assist the special government pleader. The state also informed the bench that a fresh notification revising minimum wages had been issued on May 30, 2026, taking effect from June 1, 2026. Taking note of the submissions, the court directed that all relevant notifications, records and legal explanations be formally placed on record by the next hearing.
The dispute’s roots: a Gazette notification row
The case has a longer history. In 2024, the High Court had directed the government to publish five government orders issued between 2021 and 2022 revising minimum wages in the official Gazette, holding that such publication served as the authoritative reference point for employers, workers and enforcement agencies, and that failing to publish it could hurt workers’ interests and leave room for employers to misuse the wage revisions.
When the government did not comply, a labour union filed contempt petitions against it.
On June 19 this year, however, Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka allowed a review petition filed by the government against those 2024 orders, holding that the legal position had changed with the Minimum Wages Act being repealed and replaced by the Code on Wages, 2019. Since the earlier orders required reconsideration in light of the new law, the judge held that the question of contempt no longer survived and closed the contempt petitions filed by the union.
What the fresh wage notification says
The notification issued on May 30 and effective from June 1 this year revises minimum monthly wages based on both skill level and geographic zone, with Zone-I covering municipal corporations, Zone-II covering municipalities and Zone-III covering rural and other areas.
It also standardises how skill categories are defined. For instance, unskilled work involves manual labour without prior experience, semi-skilled work requires basic skills gained through experience and is done under supervision, skilled work needs technical or vocational training and independent judgment and highly skilled work demands specialised expertise and decision-making responsibility.
The notification also expands the list of sectors covered by minimum wage protection for the first time, bringing in e-commerce and courier services, religious institutions, amusement and water parks, mobile tower maintenance, handicrafts, cane and bamboo industries, borewell services, Ready Mix Concrete units, aluminium and tin product manufacturing and LPG storage and distribution agencies.
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