Govt to exempt small factories from major labour laws

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Oct 14, 2014, DHNS: The Labour Ministry has drafted a new Small Factories Bill, 2014, that proposes to exempt industries with less than 40 workers from most labour laws, including Factories Act, Industrial Disputes Act and the Minimum Wages Act.

The Small Factories Bill comes at a time when proposed amendments to the Factories Act are pending in Parliament. The bill is likely to come up in the winter session, after comments from the public on “regulating the employment and other conditions of service of employees in small factories”.

The bill provides for appointment of chief inspectors by the state or Union Territory governments to look after small factories. The chief inspectors will not be below the rank of deputy chief inspector of factories or deputy director of industrial safety and health.

Small factories owned by the Central or state governments and the local authorities will also come under the purview of the bill.

The bill seeks to ease the procedure of registration and closure of small factories. A small factory can be registered through an electronic or written application within 60 days of its commencement.

The registration can also be done after 60 days by paying penalty. After registration, the factory will get a labour identification number. The closure can be communicated to the chief inspector of the small factories within 15 days.

The chief inspector  will be authorised to cancel the registration and remove the name of the factory from the register. Despite strong opposition from trade unions, the Narendra Modi government is going ahead with the reforms in labour laws. Unions allege that workers will be deprived of statutory benefits.

The bill provides stringent procedures against trade union activities as such an act must have support of at least 51 per cent of workers. Group absence may invite wage deduction up to eight days.  The sacking procedures have been eased.