Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Assembly passed a record number of four bills, aimed at ushering in various labour reforms, during its seating on Tuesday. The labour reforms are mainly aimed at reducing the compliance burden on industries and attracting new industries to the state.The bills were presented by Minister Dilip Thakor. “ Labour laws reforms have been done in line with Ease of Doing Business on instructions of the CM Shri Vijay Rupani as per vision of the Prime Minister” said Vipul Mittra ACS of the dept who was instrumental in drafting largest number of labour reforms in recent times

The Gujarat Assembly passed The Industrial Disputes (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, The Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, and The Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020 in a discussion that ended late on Tuesday.

Four labour bills, which will promote ease of doing business in the state, were passed by the Gujarat Assembly yesterday. Never in the past have so many reforms been carried out in labour laws in a single day. During the long discussions, MLAs cutting across party lines, including those belonging to the Opposition, expressed satisfaction at the handling of massive labour issues during the lockdown by the state government.

The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 covered establishments and contractors employing 20 or more contract workers. However, in The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, the number has been revised to 50 or more people.

As per the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, establishments having 100 or more workers were required to seek prior permission of the state government before effecting layoff, retrenchment, or closure. However, the number of workers has been increased to 300 in The Industrial Disputes (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Similarly, in case of layoffs, workers were so far required to be paid compensation amounting to 15 days salary for every year of service. Now, workers will also be required to be paid an amount equivalent to the average pay of the last three months as compensation. Similarly, workers were required to be given three months notice or wages for the notice period before retrenchment. Now, workers can be retrenched only after giving them three months notice.

The Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020, which grants exemption from various labour laws to industries that come up within 1,000 days of the implementation of the Act, was also passed by the assembly. The units will also get exemption from various provisions of The Factories Act, 1948 for 1,000 days after commencement of operations.

Vipul Mittra IAS said that the exemptions will help the state attract new industries, which will create more employment opportunities.

A factory was so far defined as a premise wherein 10 or more workers were working, and where manufacturing was being carried on with the aid of power, or wherein 20 or more workers were working, and manufacturing was being carried on without the aid of power. However, the existing threshold limit of 10 and 20 has been replaced by 20 and 40 respectively in the Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Similarly, the Factories Act of 1948 did not provide for compounding of offences, and it resulted in a higher number of prosecution cases. For speedy disposal of offences and to minimize the number of litigation, a new provision was inserted in the said Central Act for compounding of offences.

“During the lockdown, more than 15 lakh workers were transported to their home states in buses and special trains from Gujarat. More than 230 shelter homes were set up to provide temporary shelter to workers already on the move, while Rs. 3,183 crore were paid in wages to workers even when factories were shut,” Mittra added.