CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH BIHAR

SCHOOL OF LAW & GOVERNANCE

Labour and Industrial Law-1

WRITE-UP
Industrial Employments: Scope and coverage

Under the Supervision of: - Dr. Ram Chandra Oraon

(Assistant Professor, School of Law & Governance)

Submitted By: - Isha Anand

B.A. LL.B. (H.) 7th Semester

CUSB1613125019

The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 seeks to define the terms and conditions
of employment of all categories of employees who discharge the same or similar work in an
industrial establishment and to make those terms and conditions widely known to all workmen
before they could be asked to express their willingness to accept the employment. The Central
Government introduced a Bill providing for framing the rules containing the terms and
conditions of employment in the industrial establishments, was introduced in the legislative
assembly on April 8, 1946 and was passed under the title The Industrial Employment (Standing
Orders) Act, 1946.

Before the passing of Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 conditions of
employment obtaining in several industrial establishments were governed by contracts between
the employer and employees. Sometimes those conditions were reduced in writing and in many
cases they were not reduced to writing, but were governed by, oral agreements. The Industrial
Employment (Standing orders) Act was introduced for the employers in industrial establishments
to ensure the employment conditions under the establishments. Standing Orders states the laws
which govern the relationship between the employer and a workman in an industrial
establishment with includes the elements such as classification of workers, working hours,
attendance, suspension, termination etc. In this article, we look at the various aspects of the
Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act in detail.

To avoid friction amongst the employers and workmen employed in an industry is the principal
aim of Indian Legislation in India. It was considered that the society had a vital interest in the
settlement of terms of employment of Industrial Labour and also settlement of Labour problems.
Therefore, the steps were taken by the Central Government to enact Industrial Employment
(Standing Orders) Act, 1946 with a view to afford protection to the workmen with regard to
conditions of employment. There was no uniformity in the conditions of service of workers until
this Act was brought. Bombay Cotton Textile workers first raised the demand for statutory
service conditions in 1927-28. The Bombay Industrial Disputes Act of 1938 provided, for the
first time, for statutory standing orders.

The history of labour legislation in India is naturally interwoven with the history of British
colonialism. The industrial/labour legislations enacted by the British were primarily intended to
protect the interests of the British employers. Considerations of British political economy were
naturally paramount in shaping some of these early laws. The earliest Indian statute to regulate
the relationship between employer and his workmen was the Trade Dispute Act, 1929 (Act 7 of

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1929). Provisions were made in this Act for restraining the rights of strike and lock out but no
machinery was provided to take care of disputes

The Labour Investigation Committee 1944-46 observed: “An industrial worker has the right to
know the terms & conditions under which he is expected to follow”. The Industrial Employment
(Standing Orders) Bill, 1946 was passed by the legislature and it received the assent on 23 rd April
1946. It came on the statute book as the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 (20
of 1946).

Scope and Coverage

The Act seeks to define the terms and conditions of employment of all categories of employees
who discharge the same or similar work in an industrial establishment and to make those terms
and conditions widely known to all workmen before they could be asked to express their
willingness to accept the employment.

The Act was enacted to curb the powers of the employer to offer such conditions of service as
would result in exploitation and bring about uniformity in conditions of service amongst
employees working in different industrial establishments in the same industry. The Act imposes
an obligation on the employer to explain and state the terms and conditions of service before a
person accepts the employment. The act Extends to the whole of India. To every establishment
wherein 100 or more workmen are employed. On any day preceding twelve months. Once
applicable to the establishment then it continuous if the no. of workers employed gets reduced to
less than 100. The appropriate Govt. can exempt any establishment from any of the provisions of
the Act. It applies to railways, factories, mines, quarries, oil fields, tramways, motor services,
docks, plantations, workshops, civil construction and maintenance works. The Act has 15
sections and a schedule. It applies to the entire skilled or unskilled, manual, supervisory,
technical, clerical work.

The aim and object of the Central Government was to introduce uniform Standing Orders and
provide equal conditions of service to the workmen employed in industrial establishment before
or after the Standing Orders came into force. After the enforcement of the Standing Orders, the
conditions laid down therein, will be binding on all those presently in the employment of the
concerned establishment and appointed thereafter. In the Preamble, it has been clearly stated that

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it will deal with the conditions of labourers in an industrial establishment. The employers shall
have to define precisely the conditions of employment and to make these conditions known to
the workmen employed in their industries. It provides uniformity of terms and conditions in
respect of all workmen employed in the industry and belong to the same category. This Act will
apply to all industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers or employed on any day
preceding 12 months. In several States, the governments have extended the application of the
“Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946” to the industrial establishments
employing 50 or more persons. Actually, there is no need to delimit the number of employees.

Conclusion

Thus it can be concluded that The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 was
deigned to define the terms of employment and to give the workmen collective voice regarding
the terms of employment and ensure the conditions of service. The Act seeks to define the terms
and conditions of employment of all categories of employees who discharge the same or similar
work in an industrial establishment and to make those terms and conditions widely known to all
workmen before they could be asked to express their willingness to accept the employment.

The Act imposes an obligation on the employer to explain and state the terms and conditions of
service before a person accepts the employment. The act Extends to the whole of India. To every
establishment wherein 100 or more workmen are employed. The moto of Central Government
was to introduce uniform Standing Orders and provide equal conditions of service to the
workmen employed in industrial establishment before or after the Standing Orders came into
force. The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 are binding on employer and
employee. These are statutorily imposed conditions of service. However, they are not statutory
provisions themselves meaning that the Standing Orders even when approved do not become
law in the sense in which Rules and Notifications issued under delegated legislation become after
they are published as prescribed.

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