New Delhi: Addressing a conference of workers here on May Day, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at former lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung for stalling the hike in minimum wages in 2016.

In 2016, Jung had returned the proposal demanding a 50 per cent hike on grounds that he had not approved of the wage committee. Last year, Jung's successor Anil Baijal finally approved a 37 per cent hike in minimum wages, notified by the Delhi government after 23 years - during which time only the dearness allowance was hiked. The decrease from 50 per cent to 37 per cent was attributed to deflation due to demonetisation.

Kejriwal said: "I went and folded my hands (before Jung) and said please give your approval, it is for the poor. They will bless you. He wrote on the file that prior approval was not taken, reconstitute the committee.... I have done many movements and fought many injustices, but I haven't seen Hitlershahi like this."

He added: "Earlier, the committees used to sit and used to calculate, how much does a man need to survive... 2700 calories. Are they animals... Will he educate his children or not, will he buy clothes or not, and if he watches a film a month is he committing a sin?.. If some good picture is playing won't he take his children and go?"

He continued: "We said that these 2700 calories won't do. They are not animals. If you want to pay on the basis of 2700 calories, then calculate the salaries of IAS officers on the basis of 2700 calories, not the wages of workers."

The Centre's seventh pay commission in 2015 fixed the minimum wage for permanent government employees at Rs 18,000 per month, using 2,700 calories per day as recommended by nutritionist Wallace Aykroyd in 1948. Delhi used Hyderabad's National Institute of Nutrition's prescribed intake of 2,731 calories per day.

After a 1991 Supreme Court judgement, the Centre and states, including Delhi, also include components such as clothing, housing, costs of lighting and fuel and education to calculate minimum wages. The entry level pay of an IAS officer is calculated at 3.12 times the minimum wage-- and is hence, already linked to calorific value.

The minimum wage for unskilled labourers in Delhi was raised from Rs 9,724 per month, to Rs 13,350 per month, last year. However, employers obtained a stay from Delhi High Court against punitive action against them till the case is decided.

"Today there are many contractors who don't pay fair wages. From this dais, I say -- reform or we know how to reform you. HC has said that you can't act against any company. The day the judgement comes, most harsh action will be taken against these contractors... The most important thing is that we have to end the contract system. This is wrong. It is against humanity, law and the constitution. We have to finish it," said Kejriwal.

He added: "I always say that those 67 out of 70 seats, this heavy majority, was because of the poor and the workers. The poor voted for us. The rich did not."