Key Amendments in Industrial Disputes Act 1947

Continuing with simple presentation on amendment sin various labor law related acts, this blog presents the key amendments in industrial disputes act in a tabular form

 

S.NO	Section	Pre-amended position	Post-amended position
1	Sec.2(a)(i)	The scope of appropriate Government so far as central Government is concerned was restricted to only those enumerated in sub-clause(i) of clause(a) of Sec. 2	Now  this scope has been expanded to include companies — i)In which not less than 51% of the paid up share capital is held by Central Government or any corporation(excluding those mentioned in sub-clause(i) set-up by Central law or held by central public sector undertakings or by subsidiaries of principal undertakings owned by or controlled by the Central Government.   ii) Another important amendment made to clause (a) of Sec.2 is to define appropriate government with regard to disputes between contractor and the contract labour. It now depends up on the question whether the industrial establishment which employs the contract  labour in which such dispute arises, falls under the control of Central Government or State Government. If it falls under the control of Central Govt., central govt. will be the appropriate government otherwise, the State Govt.
2	Sec.2(s)	Supervisors drawing wages not exceeding Rs.1600/-p.m are coming within the definition of workmen.	Now, Supervisors drawing wages not exceeding Rs.10000/-p.m are coming within the definition of workmen.
3	Sec.2A	Under present provision, an individual dispute raised a workman who is retrenched or dismissed can be adjudicated by the Labour Court/Industrial Tribunal only when it is referred by the Government on recipt of report from Conciliation Officer.	After amendment, a new sub-sections (2)&(3) have been added which enable the individual workman who is retrenched or dismissed and who raises the dispute before conciliation officer, can now directly make an application to the Labour Court/industrial Tribunal for adjudication of his dispute after a lapse of 45 days from the date of making an application to the conciliation officer. (3) The application referred to in sub-section (2) shall be made to the Labour Court or Tribunal before the expiry of three years from the date of discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or otherwise termination of service as specified in sub-section (1).”.
4	Chapter IIB-Sec.9(C)	The Present Sec. 9(C) does not precisely give the constitution of the grievance redressal mechanism and the procedure. This Section has been substituted by new Sec.9(C).	The new Section 9(C) provides – i)Composition of the Grievance Redressal Committee. ii)Fixes a thirty day time limit for redressal of the grievance.   iii)Provides for appeal to the employer by the workman aggrieved by the decision of the committee.
5	Sec.11	The present section does not refer to the manner of execution of awards made by Labour Court/ Industrial Tribunal.	New subsections (9) &(10) have been added to Section 11 where by the Labour Court or Industrial Tribunal shall transmit any award or order or settlement arrived before it to a civil court which will execute the same as if it were a decree passed by it.

This is a Guest post by Sai kumar, an HR professional with three decades of experience in the field of labour laws and industrial relations in a public sector as well as in a reputed labour law firms. 

Sai Kumar has been  involved  extensively in research on labour law issues and case-law  on subjects such as the Industrial Disputes Act, the Standing Orders Act, the Factories Act, the Contract Labour Act, the P.F Act, the ESI Act  and the Gratuity Act etc and currently advises Talentmoon and its clients.