The
government has proposed to codify the labour laws, amalgamating several Central
Acts. Two codes have been proposed, one on wages and the other on industrial
relations. The one on wages amalgamates the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the
Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, and the Payment
of Bonus Act, 1965. The second code is in the form of a draft Bill on industrial
relations amalgamating the Trade Union Act, the Industrial Disputes Act and
other Standing Order Acts. In the words of a trade union leader, the proposals
aim at making the registration of unions almost impossible, barring non-workers
from becoming trade union leaders in the organised sector, and declaring
illegal all strikes and imposing severe punishment for such strikes.
The
proposed amendment to the Factories Act, 1948, has caused considerable concern.
The Act prescribes standards for the health, safety and welfare of workers and
provides for inspectors to report noncompliance with these standards, which
would invite a fine
and
imprisonment. The proposal is to replace the term “inspector” with
“facilitator”, a person who will give the employer an opportunity to make
amends in case of any violation of the law; and if the employer makes amends,
there shall be no prosecution. As
one
observer put it, “this meek and gentle treatment of offenders is at least half
a universe away from fostering respect for the law that is being mooted”.
The
Bill to amend the Factories Act, which is pending in Parliament, inserts a new
provision, Section 92c, to compound 32 offences by employers, with impact on
the health, welfare and wages of workers. The provision says that once
compounded “for such amount as prescribed”, “no further proceedings shall be
taken against the offender in respect of such offence”.
On
May 13, the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Child and Adolescent
Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, allowing the employment of children
below 14 years in nonhazardous family enterprises, the entertainment industry
and sporting events after school hours. The Communist Party of India (Marxist)
criticised the move by saying that using poverty and the “social fabric” of
India to justify the use of child labour was tantamount to punishing the child
for poverty. The party expressed its concern that it would be impossible to
regulate family enterprises and that it would open the floodgates to the
rampant use of child labour.
Juvenile
justice
Concerns
have also been expressed over the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Bill, 2014, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on May 7. The Bill
permits juveniles between the ages of 16 and 18 to be tried as adults for
heinous offences, and for less serious offences, only if apprehended after the
age of 21. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires
all signatory countries to treat every child under the age of 18 as equal. The
Bill thus contravenes the convention. It also suffers from legal infirmities as
it infringes on the right to equality under Article 14 and Article 21, which
require that laws and procedures are fair and reasonable. The Bill also goes
against the spirit of Article 20(1) by according a higher penalty for the same
offence if the person is apprehended after 21 years of age, even though he may
have been a juvenile when he committed the offence. The Bill has been passed by
the Lok Sabha although the Standing Committee which examined it cautioned that
it was based on misleading data regarding juvenile crimes and violated certain
provisions of the Constitution.
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