• By PTI
  • Thu, 21 Aug 2025 04:57 PM (IST)
  • Source:PTI

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has raised the minimum monthly wages paid to Anganwadi workers and helpers to Rs 24,800 and Rs 20,300 from Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,500, respectively, in the state.

The division bench of Justices AS Supehia and RT Vachahani directed the central and state governments to jointly, or the state government exclusively, to pay them minimum monthly wages to the Anganwadi workers.

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The arrears of new wages, Rs 24,800 to AWWs and Rs 20,300 to AWHs, shall be paid to them from April 1, 2025, it said.

Anganwadi is a flagship programme of the Centre aimed at providing early care to children up to the age of 6, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a network of AWWs and AWHs.

The judges set aside an earlier single-judge bench order that granted wages retrospectively for the three years preceding the filing of the writ petitions concerning the matter. If implemented, the division bench said, it would increase the state’s financial burden substantially and retrospectively.

In its order on Wednesday, the HC observed that considering the nature of duties and the mode of appointment, the AWWs and AWHs are entitled to “at least ‘living wage’ above the ‘minimum’ and ‘fair wage’ so that it may supply the needs of their families with all the material things.

“The meager amount of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,500 to the AWWs and AWHs impinges their arduous obligations. The irony is that the AWWs and AWHs, who fulfill the needs of pregnant and lactating mothers, health and education of minors, are deprived of living a life with dignity and respect for want of opposite remuneration.

“Hence, the denial of “living wage” to the AWWs and AWHs is violative of fundamental rights enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” it said.

The aforesaid wages shall be subject to further corresponding revisions as and when declared by the central government or the state government, it said.

“The present directions will apply to all the AWWs and AWHs engaged in all the Anganwadi centers of the State of Gujarat, and those who have not approached this court, shall not be compelled to file writ petition for obtaining a similar order from the High Court,” the court said.

According to government data shared in 2024, Gujarat collectively had nearly 1 lakh AWWs and AWHs.

The HC also observed that “equal pay for equal work” does not apply to AWWs and AWHs as they have not proved their equivalence of work with any other Class-III and Class-IV posts in terms of qualifications for recruitment as well as nature and responsibilities of duties and salary.

In its order passed on August 2, 2024, the single-judge bench of the HC had directed that the AWWs and AWHs be treated on a par with the regularly selected permanent employees holding civil posts in the state or central government.

The court had further directed the central and state governments to formulate a policy for absorption of the posts of AWWs and AWHs in government service and confer consequential regularisation benefits to them.

In a batch of petitions, the AWWs and AWHs had prayed for regularisation of their service and urged the court to declare that the honorarium paid to them was violative of Articles 14, 16, 21, and 23 of the Constitution.

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A direction has also been sought for payment of minimum wages to AWWs and AWHs, on par with part-time employees in other departments of the Gujarat government.

(Note: Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Daily Jagran staff. Credit:PTI)