Senate passes amendment bill: employers asked to pay wages through cheques or bank accounts

The Senate Standing Committee on Interior Friday passed an amendment bill seeking that employers should be bound to pay the wages to their employees through cheques or credit it to their bank accounts. The committee which met with Senator Rehman Malik in the chair passed ''The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2017'', moved by Senator Muhammad Javed Abbasi. Abbasi said the ''Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (IV of 1936)'' regulates the payment of wages of certain classes of employed persons. The section 6 of the act provides that all wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or in both.
He said that with the passage of time, technology has changed and a large number of the employed persons have their bank accounts. The payment of wages through cheque or crediting it in the bank accounts of employed persons will reduce the number of complaints with regard to non-payment or less payment of minimum wages, besides serving the objectives of digital and less cash economy, he added.
The senator said that therefore it is necessary to amend the ''Payment of Wages Act, 1936'' in order to enable the employer to pay the wages to the employed person also by cheque or crediting it to his bank account. The parliamentary body also passed another bill seeking increase in punishment of the accused who distributes obscene material. The committee approved ''The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Act, 2017'', moved by Senator Sirajul Haq.
According to the statements and objects of the bill, with the passage of time, obscenity has not only disturbed the individual lives but it has become a terrible act of annoyance for the whole society, especially for women folks. The Article 14 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan clearly states that "the dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable."
In Article 37(g) of the Constitution, it is stated that "the State shall prevent prostitution, gambling and taking of injurious drugs, printing, publication, circulation and display of obscene literature and advertisements;" Sections 292, 293 and 294 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) directly relate to the person who sells, lets to hire, distributes, publicly exhibits or in any manner puts into circulation or for purposes of sale, hire, distribution, public exhibition or circulation, makes, produces or has in his possession any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, drawing, painting, representation or figure or any other obscene object whatsoever, or imports, exports or conveys any obscene object for any of the purposes aforesaid.