The Union Cabinet on 20th November 2019 has approved the Industrial Relation Code Bill, which is the third code under labour reforms. The draft code has been prepared by amalgamating and rationalizing certain relevant provisions of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The bill provides for setting up of a two-member tribunal (in place of one-member), thus introducing a system where some of the important cases will be adjudicated jointly and the rest by a single-member resulting speedier disposal of cases.
it provides that the re-skilling fund, is to be utilized for crediting to workers in the manner to be prescribed.
It also provides for vesting of powers with the government officers for adjudication of disputes involving penalty as fines thereby lessening the burden on tribunal.
The threshold for seeking approval by the appropriate government for closure, retrenchment etc. is fixed as 100 employees, but a provision for changing ‘such number of employees’ through notification is introduced for flexibility.
Click here to read the press release.
