Bill to simplify labour law moved in Rajya Sabha

NEW DELHI: In a small victory for the Narendra Modi government to push easier labour rules, the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday approved the bill to amend the Labour Laws Act, 1988, which will simplify the procedures of filing returns for small firms. The bill will now be taken up in Lok Sabha in this session.

This is one of the three amendments proposed by the BJP-led NDA government during the budget session, the other two being the amendments to the Apprenticeship Act of 1961 and amendments to the Factories Act of 1948. Amendments to the Apprenticeship Act, as proposed by this government, has already been passed in the Lok Sabha and is now awaiting passage in the Rajya Sabha.

As part of the amendment to the Labour Laws (Exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments) Act, 1988, the ministry of labour & employment has proposed that companies with 10-40 employees will now be exempt from provisions under various labour laws that mandate them to furnish and file returns on various aspects as against establishments with up to 19 employees.

Besides, it has proposed to extend the coverage of the Principal Act from 9 Schedules Acts to 16 Schedules Acts, which means that small firms can now use a unified compliance format from nine to 16.

The amendments would also allow small firms to maintain two registers as against three till now besides enabling records and registers in computer, floppy, diskette or on any other electronic media as well as file it through e-mail. The proposal was first mooted by the UPA-I government in 2005.

However, bill was subsequently withdrawn after stiff opposition from the Left. The Bill was redrafted and introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2011 after extensive stakeholder consultation but again there was not much breakthrough as a result of which even the simplest of labour reform could not be introduced.