Section 31: Validation of fixation of certain minimum rates of wages

Where during the period—

(a) commencing on the 1st day of April, 1952, and ending with the date of the commencement of the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Act, 1954 (26 of 1954); or

(b) commencing on the 31st day of December, 1954, and ending with the date of the commencement of the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Act, 1957 (30 of 1957); or

(c) commencing on the 31st day of December, 1959, and ending with the date of the commencement of the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Act, 1961 (31 of 1961), minimum rates of wages have been fixed by an appropriate Government as being payable to employees employed in any employment specified in the Schedule in the belief or purported belief that such rates were being fixed under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3, as in force immediately before the commencement of the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Act, 1954 (26 of 1954), or the Minimum Wages

(Amendment) Act, 1957 (30 of 1957), or the Minimum Wages (Amendment) Act, 1961 (31 of 1961), as the case may be, such rates shall be deemed to have been fixed in accordance with law and shall not be called in question in any court on the ground merely that the relevant date specified for the purpose in that clause had expired at the time the rates were fixed:

Provided that nothing contained in this section shall extend, or be construed to extend, to affect any person with any punishment or penalty whatsoever by reason of the payment by him by way of wages to any of his employees during any period specified in this section of an amount which is less than the minimum rates of wages referred to in this section or by reason of non-compliance during the period aforesaid with any order or rule issued under section 13.]