THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE L. NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.26210 OF 2011 ORDER: The petitioner is running an industry, wherein a quite good number of persons are employed in various categories. The authority under the Payment of Wages Act (for short ‘the Act’), 1st respondent herein, issued a notice, dated 21.07.2011 in P.W.Case.No.2 of 2011, requiring the petitioner to appear before it with reference to a claim made by respondents 2 to 44 herein. The petitioner contends that the 1st respondent has no jurisdiction to entertain the claim, since even according to the claim petition, what is demanded by respondents 2 to 44 is the extra wages said to have been agreed to be paid by the petitioner to the employees coming from Delhi and working at Hyderabad. It is urged that the said claim does not fit into the scheme under the Act. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Labour. The petitioner challenges the very jurisdiction of the 1st respondent in entertaining the case presented by respondents 2 to 44. Reliance is placed upon the observations made by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Payment of Wages Inspector vs. Surajmal Mehta and Another[1]. It is no doubt true that the Hon’ble Supreme Court held in clear terms that an authority under the Act can decide the questions pertaining to deductions or delay in payment of wages and not about the adequacy or otherwise. The same plea can certainly be raised before the 1st respondent. In case, the plea is rejected, after taking into account the submission of the workmen, the petitioner can certainly avail its remedies. Therefore, the writ petition is disposed of leaving it open to the petitioner to raise the question as to the jurisdiction of the 1st respondent to entertain the claim submitted by respondents 2 to 44 vis-à-vis the provisions of payment of wags Act. It shall also be open to the petitioner to rely upon the judgment rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the 1st respondent shall pass an order as to the maintainability, before discussing the merits of the case. There shall be no order as to costs. __________ 20.09.2011 JSU THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE L. NARASIMHA REDDY WRIT PETITION No.26210 OF 2011 Date: 20.09.2011 JSU [1] AIR 1969 SUPREME COURT 590