Centre seeks law ministry’s opinion on labour code implementation amid West Bengal’s resistance

The Centre has sought the law ministry’s views on whether the Union government can implement the proposed labour codes without all states agreeing to them against the backdrop of West Bengal’s reluctance to roll out these rules, officials told Moneycontrol.

“We have asked for a legal view on how to implement the labour codes if a state, say, West Bengal, refuses to implement them. But it won’t be easy legally to go ahead without every state on board since the codes need uniform rollout,” one of the officials directly involved in the matter said.

Earlier, Sumita Dawra, secretary, ministry of labour and employment, had told Moneycontrol that while around 30 states have agreed to implement the codes entirely, some such as Tamil Nadu and Delhi have partially notified the draft rules. However, West Bengal has refused to be a part of the reform agenda as of now, she added.

A second official said, “It will be problematic for the state because when the labour code kicks in there will be a repeal of the existing act. We would like to have West Bengal and all the states on board and we are quite confident the consensus-building is going to be successful.”

In fact, this official is fairly certain that the Centre will eventually be able to convince the eastern state to come on board citing the merits of the new codes.

In a bid to improve ease of doing business, the government had consolidated 29 central labour laws into four labour codes. These are the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, 2020, the Code on Social Security (SS Code), 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH&WC) Code, 2020.

Though cleared by Parliament, the proposed codes have been pending since 2020 and are now said to be part of the agenda that the new post-election government has set to achieve in its first 100 days.

According to a former senior official in the labour ministry, it will be difficult for the government to implement the new rules without the consent of every state government.

Also Read: Govt collaborating with states, unions, corporates for labour code implementation: Labour Ministry

“While the government can pass the new labour codes without bringing a state on board, the state could appeal against the new codes in the judicial system and the implementation of the codes will likely be put on hold until the judiciary makes a decision,” the former official said.

But state governments cannot hold the central government hostage in such circumstances and instead will have to provide both a timeline and a valid reason for its objection to the codes and if the concerns are addressed, the state will have to come on board, this person added.

The Union government plans to embark on a series of regional workshops to sensitise stakeholders, including states, on the proposed labour codes as it looks to build consensus around this reform, Dawra said on August 9.