NEW DELHI: As many as 15 states have reached out to the Centre seeking approval for changes in three labour laws in order to significantly improve the ease of doing business in the country and attract more and more investors into their states.

These include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

“This ministry has received proposal through the union ministry of home affairs, from the various state governments to effect changes in one or all of these Central Acts viz., the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Factories Act, 1948 or the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970,” Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in response to a question in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

According to minister Gangwar, reforms in labour laws is a continuous process. Therefore, Central and State Governments strive on a regular basis to update the legislative system as per the need of the hour.

“The subject of ‘labour’ is in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India where both the central and state governments are competent to enact legislation subject to certain matters being reserved for the Centre,” he said.

“As far as the issue of ordinances are concerned, the state governments are required to refer the proposal to the Central government for effecting changes in the existing Central Labour Laws enacted by the Parliament.”

In a separate reply, the minister said the Central government has been in correspondence with the state governments to undertake various legislative and governance reforms.

“Under the Factories Act, state governments are empowered to issue notification to extend the working hours without any reference to the Central government,” he said, adding some of the state governments have notified increase in working hours to address the issues of limited availability of workers during Covid-19 pandemic.

Source : Times of India