Labour ministry to appoint consultant for drafting rules
Labour ministry official said advertisements will be released in the newspapers soon for appointing, on temporary basis, consultants with deep domain knowledge.
Making of the rules and their proper implementation is the key to success of government’s efforts to bring in the much-desired changes in the labour reforms that the Modi government started in 2014.
Labour ministry will rope in consultants to advise it on framing the rules under three new codes on industrial relations, social security and occupational safety & health. These codes subsuming 25 central labour acts were passed by Parliament last month.
A senior labour ministry official said advertisements will be released in the newspapers soon for appointing, on temporary basis, consultants with deep domain knowledge. Based on the response, suitable candidates will be chosen as consultants.
“There will be no appointment on the nomination basis,” said the official.
The ministry has already set up three committees headed by three joint secretaries in the ministry. There will be an additional 6-7 members in each committee.
Draft rules under the code on wages, passed last year, are already out for comments from the stakeholders. Code on wages proposes universalisation of minimum wages.
After drafting, rules be sent to the law ministry for vetting. Following that, there would be tripartite meeting attempting to reach to a consensus. The draft rules will also be placed on the ministry’s website seeking comments from the stakeholders.
The IR code proposes to allow firms with workers up to 300 as against 100 now – to resort to closure and retrenchment without prior government permission (the state governments are to be authorised to allow this via notification). It will also endorse by law the already-in-force full-benefit fixed-term employment scheme for all sectors. The requirement of mandatory 14-day notice for strikes will now apply to all units, not just public utility firms.
The Social security code proposes to cover all 50 crore workers under social security net and set up a National Social Security Board that would recommend suitable schemes for the different section of unorganised sector workers.
The Code on Occupational Safety & Health proposes to allow the women employees to work at night, subject to the conditions relating to safety, holiday, working hours and their consent, among others.
Courtesty- Financial Express.
