6. Section 20 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 deals with the procedure for making and entertaining claims arising out of payment of less than the minimum rates of wages. Sub-section (2) of Section 20 enables an employee, who has any claim arising out of payment of less than the minimum rates of wages, to make an application to the designated Authority either in person or through any legal practitioner or any official of a registered trade union authorized in writing, to act on his behalf. The 1st proviso thereto directs that every such application shall be presented within six months from the date on which the minimum wages or other amounts became payable. The 2nd proviso to sub-section (2) of Section 20 states that an application made by an employee may be admitted after the period of six months, if the applicant satisfies the Authority that he had sufficient cause for not making the application within such period. Sub-section (3) of Section 20 states that when an application under sub-section (2) is entertained, the designated Authority shall hear the applicant and the employer, or give them an opportunity of being heard, and after such further enquiry, if any, as it may consider necessary, may, without prejudice to any other penalty to which the employer may be liable under this Act, direct – in the case of a claim arising out of payment of less than the minimum rates of wages, the payment to the employee of the amount by which the minimum wages payable to him exceed the amount actually paid, together with the payment of such compensation as the Authority may think fit, not exceeding ten times the amount of such excess.
