President gives assent to contentious Gujarat labour law

Gujarat’s labour reforms bill has received President Pranab Mukherjee’s assent with some controversial provisions like settling disputes between workers and management through a ‘compromise’ formula with payment of ‘penalty’ to the government among the new measures.

The President gave his assent to the The Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2015 which provides for “compounding of offenses” wherein industrial employee(s) can arrive at a compromise with the employer without moving court.

The Bill proposes a total of 14 amendments to various labour laws. “We have received the Presidential assent for the The Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2015,” C J Gothi Parliamentary Secretary of Gujarat government said.

“The assent was received in September but we are yet to notify the Bill in the gazette to start its enforcement,” he said.