Corporate India calls for paperless labour law compliance

NEW DELHI: Over 800 companies have submitted a petition to the Ministry of Labour, requesting to make all the labour law compliances paperless, a move that they believe will help arrest the depletion of natural resources and improve ease of doing business.

The petition appeals to the government to move all employers and employees' mandatory filing online over the next 24 months as "mandatory paper filing has neither improved the condition of our labour nor ensured better enforcement".

"Paperless compliance would not only be an important step for Government's Digital India program but also a massive step for ease of doing business. India needs formal jobs on a massive scale and reducing the costs of formalisation is an important step in making India a fertile habitat for job creation," said Sonal Arora, Assistant Vice President TeamLease Services.

"We hope the government will respond by introducing this administrative change that does not require legislative approval. We also hope that this digitisation will be accompanied by automation of compliance," Arora, who is also the convener of the petition, said.

Complying with labour laws requires corporates to use 500 crore sheets of paper or 6 lakh trees every year. Besides the environmental destruction, the lack of online submissions creates a huge administrative load for employers, as per the petition.

"Moving the compliance will cut down the time spend on formalisation of compliance like - storage of information, transportation of data and physical signatures. Tracking and monitoring will be also very easy and hassle free," added another member of the petition, Roshan Zameer, Head HR Compliance, Tech Mahindra.

According to Biren Anshu, AVP, Corporate HR EIH Limited, the Oberoi Group, "the immediate and recurrent challenge on labour law emerges from the fact the laws were enacted in pre digital era, whilst compliances are to be done as per today's business needs and requirement of digital age."