Section 57: Bar of Suits and Section 58: Protection of Action Taken in Good Faith - Code on Wages, 2019
Sections 57 and 58 of the Code on Wages, 2019 deal with two procedural protections. Section 57 restricts ordinary civil suits for specified wage and bonus claims that fall within the Code's statutory recovery mechanism. Section 58 protects the appropriate Government and its officers from legal proceedings for acts done, or intended to be done, in good faith under the Code.
Section 57 - Bar of suits
Section 57 creates a statutory bar on civil suits for recovery of specified monetary claims where the claim is, or could be, dealt with under the Code. It should be read with the Code on Wages, 2019 and particularly the claims mechanism under Section 45.
57. No court shall entertain any suit for the recovery of minimum wages, any deduction from wages, discrimination in wages and payment of bonus, in so far as the sum so claimed -
(a) forms the subject of claims under section 45;
(b) has formed the subject of a direction under this Code;
(c) has been adjudged in any proceeding under this Code;
(d) could have been recovered under this Code.
What Section 57 means
The provision channels covered monetary disputes into the remedies created by the Code rather than allowing a parallel civil suit for the same recoverable amount. The bar applies to suits concerning recovery of minimum wages, deductions from wages, discrimination in wages and payment of bonus to the extent that the claimed sum falls within any of clauses (a) to (d).
Connection with Section 45
Section 45 provides the statutory claims mechanism under the Code. The appropriate Government may appoint one or more authorities to hear and determine claims arising under the Code. Section 57 expressly bars a civil suit where the sum claimed forms the subject of a claim under Section 45, and also covers sums already dealt with, adjudged, or recoverable through the Code.
- A claimant should first identify whether the monetary relief is recoverable through the Code's statutory machinery.
- The same sum cannot ordinarily be pursued through a civil suit where it is already the subject of a claim, direction or adjudication under the Code.
- Clause (d) is broader: it covers a sum that could have been recovered under the Code, even if the statutory recovery process was not actually used.
- The provision concerns the civil suit bar stated in Section 57; the maintainability of any particular proceeding depends on its facts, reliefs and applicable law.
Section 58 - Protection of action taken in good faith
Section 58 is a good-faith protection provision. It protects the appropriate Government and officers of that Government from a suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding for acts done, or intended to be done, in good faith under the Code.
58. No suit, prosecution or any other legal proceeding shall lie against the appropriate Government or any officer of that Government for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Code.
Meaning and scope of the protection
The statutory protection is linked to good faith and to action under the Code. Section 58 does not state an unlimited immunity for every governmental act. Whether the protection applies in a particular dispute will depend on the nature of the impugned action, whether it was done or intended under the Code, and whether the statutory requirement of good faith is satisfied.
Who is protected?
The provision expressly refers to the "appropriate Government" and any officer of that Government. The expression "appropriate Government" is defined in Section 2 of the Code and determines whether the Central Government or the State Government is the relevant Government for an establishment, depending on the categories specified by the Code.
Sections 57 and 58 at a glance
Related provisions
For a complete reading of Chapter IX, the surrounding provisions are also relevant. Section 59 deals with burden of proof in specified wage and bonus claims; Section 60 addresses contracting out; Sections 61 and 62 deal with inconsistent laws or agreements and delegation of powers; and the later provisions cover exemptions, savings, rule-making and repeal and savings.
This page is a general legal information resource. For a dispute involving limitation, forum, maintainability, recovery or governmental immunity, the current statutory text, applicable rules, notifications and facts of the case should be examined.