 bill no vi of 2009 the industrial disputes (amendment) bill, 2009 a bill further to amend the industrial disputes act, 1947be it enacted by parliament in the sixtieth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the industrial disputes (amendment) act, 2009short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central  government may, by notificationin the official gazette, appointamendment of section 214 of 19472  in the industrial disputes act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to  as the principal act),  insection 2, —(i) in clause (a),—(a) in sub-clause (i),  for the words " major port, the central government, and", the words "major port, any company in which not less than fifty-one per cent of the paid-up share capital is held by the central government, or any corporation, not being a corporation referred to in this clause, established by or under any law made by parliament, or the central public sector undertaking, subsidiary companies set up by the principal undertaking and autonomous bodies  owned or  controlled by the central government, the central government, and" shall be substituted;(b) for sub-clause (ii), the following sub-clause shall be  substituted, namely:—"(ii) in relation to any other industrial dispute, including the state public sector undertaking, subsidiary companies set up by the principal undertaking and autonomous bodies  owned or controlled by the state government, the state government";(ii) in clause (s), in sub-clause (iv), for the words "one thousand six hundred rupees", the words "ten  thousand rupees" shall  be substitutedamendment of section 2a3  section 2a of the principal act shall be numbered as sub-section (1) thereof and after sub-section (1) as so numbered, the following sub-sections shall be inserted, namely:—"(2) notwithstanding anything contained in section 10, any such workman as is specified in sub-section (1) may,  make an application direct to the labour court or tribunal for adjudication of the dispute referred to therein after the expiry of three months from the date he has made the application to the conciliation officer of the appropriate government for conciliation of the dispute, and in receipt of such application the labour court or tribunal shall have powers and jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the dispute, as if it were a dispute referred to it  by  the appropriate government in accordance with the provisions of this act and  all the provisions of this act shall apply in relation to such adjudication as they apply in  relation to an industrial dispute referred to it by the appropriate government(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)"amendment of section 74   in  section 7 of the principal act, in sub-section(3),  after   clause (e), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:—"(f)  he is or has been a  deputy  chief labour commissioner (central) or joint commissioner  of the state labour department, having  a degree in law and  at least seven years' experience in the labour department after having acquired degree in law including  three years of experience  as conciliation officer:provided that no such deputy chief labour commissioner  or joint labour commissioner shall be appointed unless he resigns from the service of the central government or state government, as the case may be, before being appointed as the presiding officer; or(g) he is an officer of indian legal service in grade  iii with three years' experience in the grade"amendment of section 7a5    in section 7a of the principal act, in sub-section (3), after clause (aa), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:—"(b) he is or has been a  deputy  chief labour commissioner (central) or joint commissioner  of the state labour department, having  a degree in law and at least seven years' experience in the labour department after having acquired degree in law including  three years of experience  as conciliation officer:provided that no such deputy chief labour  commissioner or joint labour commissioner shall be appointed unless he resigns from the service of the central government  or state government, as the case may be, before being appointed as the presiding officer; or(c) he is an officer of indian legal service in grade  iii with three years' experience in the grade"6  after section 9b  of the  principal act, for chapter iib, the following chapter shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new chapter for  chapter iib "chapter iib grievance redressal machinery9c (1) every industrial establishment employing   twenty or more workmen shall have one or more grievance redressal committee for the resolution of disputes arising out of individual grievancessetting up of grievance redressal machinery(2) the grievance redressal committee shall consist of equal number of members from the employer and the workmen(3) the chairperson of the grievance redressal committee shall be selected from the employer and from among the workmen alternatively on rotation basis every year(4)  the total number of members of the grievance redressal committee shall not exceed  more than six:provided that there shall be, as far as practicable, one woman member if the grievance redressal committee has two members and in case the number of members are more than two, the number of women members may be increased proportionately(5) notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the setting up of grievance redressal committee shall not affect the right of the workman to raise industrial dispute on the same matter under the provisions of this  act(6) the grievance redressal committee may complete its proceedings within forty-five days on receipt of a written application by or on behalf of the aggrieved party(7) the workman who is aggrieved of the decision of the grievance redressal committee  may prefer  an appeal to the employer against the decision of grievance redressal committee and the employer shall, within  one month from the date of receipt of such appeal, dispose off the same and send  a copy of his decision to the  workman concerned(8)  nothing contained in this section shall apply to the workmen for whom there is an established grievance redressal mechanism in the establishment concerned"amendment of section 117  in section 11 of the principal act, after sub-section (8), the following sub-sections shall be inserted, namely:—5 of 1908"(9) every award made, order issued  or settlement  arrived at by or before labour  court or tribunal or   national tribunal shall be executed in accordance with the procedure laid down  for execution of orders and decree of a civil court under order 21 of the code of civil procedure, 1908(10) the labour court or tribunal or national tribunal,  as the case may be, shall transmit any award, order or settlement   to a civil court having jurisdiction and such civil court  shall execute the award, order or settlement as if  it were a decree passed by it"8   in  section 38 of the principal act, in sub-section (2),—amendment of section 38(i) clause (ab) shall be omitted; (ii) for  clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—"(c) the salaries and allowances and the terms and   conditions for appointment  of the presiding officers of the labour court, tribunal  and the national tribunal including the  allowances admissible to members of courts, boards and to assessors and witnesses;" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe industrial disputes act, 1947 provides the machinery and procedure for the investigation and settlement of industrial disputes  the provisions of the act had been amended from time to time in the light of experience gained in its actual working, case laws and industrial relations  policy of the government2 at present the workman, whose services have been discharged, dismissed, retrenched, or otherwise terminated under section 2a of the act, is unable to approach the labour court or tribunal in the absence of a reference of industrial dispute by the appropriate government to labour court or tribunal  this causes delay and untold suffering to the workmen the industrial disputes (amendment) act, 1982 provided for an in-house grievance settlement authority for the settlement of industrial disputes connected with an individual workman employed in the industrial establishment, but it does not permit the workman to approach labour court or tribunal until such dispute  has  been decided by the  grievance settlement authority the labour courts and  tribunals have no power under the act to enforce the awards published by the appropriate government3 in view of the above, it is considered necessary  to provide for  workman a direct access to  labour  court or tribunal in case of disputes arising due to discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or termination of service of workman it is also proposed to establish a grievance redressal machinery as an in-house mechanism in an industrial  establishment  with twenty or more workmen without affecting the right of workman to raise an industrial dispute on the same matter under the provisions of the act4 accordingly, the industrial  disputes ( amendment) bill , 2009,  inter alia, seeks to provide for–(i) amendment of the term "appropriate government" defined  under section 2(a)of the   act  to amplify the existing  definition;(ii) enhancement of wage ceiling  of a workman  from  one thousand six hundred rupees  per month  to ten thousand rupees per month under section 2(s) of the act;(iii) direct access for the workman to the labour court or tribunal in case ofdisputes arising out of section 2a of the act;(iv) expanding the scope  of qualifications of presiding officers of labour courtsor tribunals  under sections  7 and   7a  of the act;(v) establishment of  grievance redressal machinery  in every industrialestablishment employing twenty or more workmen for the resolution of disputes arising out of  individual grievances;(vi) empowering the labour court or tribunal to  execute the  awards, orders or settlements arrived at  by  labour  court or tribunal 5 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectives new delhi;oscar fernandesthe 19th february , 2009 memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 8 of the bill confers power upon the central government  to make rules relating to the salaries, the terms and conditions for appointment of the presiding officers of the labour court,  tribunal or national tribunal2 the rules made by the central government shall be laid as soon as may be, after they are made, before each house of the parliament3 the matters in respect of  which rules may be made are generally matters of procedure and administrative details the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character annexure extracts from the industrial disputes act, 1947 (14 of 1947)    definitions2 in this act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—(a) "appropriate government" means— 9 of 19481 of 195634 of 194846 of 194819 of 195231 of 1956 1 of 1956 47 of 1961 58 of 1962 52 of 1963 37 of 1964 55 of 1994 21 of 1976 53 of 1987(i) in relation to any industrial dispute concerning any industry carried on by or under the authority of the central government, or by a railway company for concerning any such controlled industry as may be specified in this behalf by the central government or in relation to an industrial dispute concerning a dock labour broad established under section 5a of the dock workers (regulation of employment) act, 1948 or the industrial finance corporation of india limited formed and registered under the companies act, 1956 or the employees' state insurance corporation established under section 3 of the employees' state insurance act, 1948  or the board of trustees constituted under section 3a of the coal mines provident fund and miscellaneous provisions act, 1948 or the central board of trustees and the state boards of trustees constituted under section 5a and section 5b, respectively, of the employees' provident fund and miscellaneous provisions act, 1952 or the life insurance corporation of india established under section 3 of the life insurance corporation act, 1956, or the oil and natural gas corporation limited registered under the companies act, 1956, or the deposit insurance and credit guarantee corporation established under section 3 of the deposit insurance and credit guarantee corporation act, 1961, or the central warehousing corporation established under section 3 of the warehousing corporations act, 1962, or the unit trust of india established under section 3 of the unit trust of india act, 1963,  or the food corporation of india established under section 3, or a board of management established for two or more contignuous states under section 16, of the food corporations act, 1964 or the airports authority of  india constituted under section 3 of the airports authority of india act, 1994, or a regional rural bank established under section 3 of the regional rural banks act, 1976, or the export credit and guarantee corporation limited or the industrial reconstruction bank of india, the national housing bank established under section 3 of the national housing bank act, 1987, or an air transport service, or a banking or an insurance company, a mine, an oil field, a cantonment board, or a major port, the central government, and(ii) in relation to any other industrial dispute, the state government;    (s) "workman" means any person (including an apprentice) employed in any industry to do any manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be express or implied, and for the purposes of any proceeding under this act in relation to an industrial dispute, includes any such person who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in conncection with, or as a consequence of, that dispute, or whose dismissal, discharge or retrenchment has led to that dispute, but does not include any such person—    (iv) who, being employed in a supervisory capacity, draws wages exceeding one thousand six hundred rupees per mensem or exercises, either by the nature of the duties attached to the office or by reason of the powers vested in him, functions mainly of a managerial nature    labour courts7 (1)     (3) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as the presiding officer of a labour court, unless—     tribunals7a (1)     (3) a person shall not be qualified for appointment as the presiding officer of a tribunal unless—     38 (1)     power to make rules(2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—     (ab) the constitution of grievance settlement authorities referred to in section9c, the manner in which industrial disputes may be referred to such authorities for settlement, the procedure to be followed by such authorities in the proceedings in relation to disputes referred to them and the period within which such proceedings shall be completed;    (c) the allowances admissible to members of courts and boards and presiding officers of labour courts, tribunals and national tribunals and to assessors and witnesses;     rajya   sabha———— a billfurther to amend the industrial disputes act, 1947————