Almost a year after the Code on Wages Act became a law, the Union government is still inviting public comments on the draft rules, pushing the effective date of implementation of the new law.
The Union labour and employment ministry invited comments on the draft Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2020 on Tuesday for the second time in a gap of eight months with minimal changes to the previous draft which was made public in November 2019. However, the government has reversed a controversial clause which had sought to increase the minimum number of daily hours for workers to qualify for minimum wages and other provisions of the law from eight to nine hours.
The labour ministry had made the draft rules public in November 2019, giving the public 45 days to comment on it. “But after the changes in the draft, which were made based on the public comments, were sent to the law ministry for its approval, they pointed out that the ministry erred by putting up the draft on its website, instead of seeking views through an official gazette,” a senior labour ministry official, who is not authorised to speak to the press, said.
“Hence, we are inviting the comments all over again,” the official added. As a result, the implementation of the Code on Wages Act, which became a law in August 2019 enabling all workers in India to receive minimum wages, will be pushed back by at least two months.
At present, about 60 per cent of the workers in India are entitled to receive minimum wages.
The second draft is identical to the previous one issued in November, except for minor changes. “The ministry had received most of the comments – almost 600 – on the clause related to the working hours which has been rectified now,” the ministry official said.
According to the previous draft, only if workers have worked for nine hours in a day, they will be eligible for minimum wages, as against eight hours in the existing law. The government has decided to stick to eight hours in the latest draft.
The government has also relaxed the terms of responsibility for the principal employers in case the contractors (who arrange workers for the former) fail to pay minimum bonus to workers stipulated under the law. In the previous draft, principal employers were held liable in case contractors failed to pay up bonus to workers. Now, only if the principal employers get “written information of such failure” from employees or registered trade unions will they become liable towards this sum.
For the first time, the labour and employment ministry has made a set of rules prescribing the way in which it will fix the minimum wages and it will cover cost of workers’ family on children education, medical requirements and recreation, in a bid to remove arbitariness.