Background
1.1 The Factories Act, 1948 is one of the most important Central legislation designed to regulate the working conditions in factories. It lays down the essential provisions relating to working conditions, hazardous processes, health, safety and welfare of the workers and provision and procedures for penalties in case of contraventions of provisions of the Factory Act. The Factories Act, 1948 was last amended in 1987. Since then there has been several changes and developments in matters relating to safety,health and welfare of workers in factories. Accordingiy, the need for effective implementation of various provisions, duly amended has been felt. The amendments to the Act have also been necessitated following the ratification by India of the ILO Convention No. 174 relating to industrial accident and protocol and Convention No. 89 relating to night work by women. The need for amendments to the Act has also been raised at various conferences, meetings of Expert Committees and has also been reflected in some judgments of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
1,2 In view of these developments, the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) had proposed amendments to the Factories Act, 1948 for consideration of the Cabinet. In October 2008, the Cabinet directed the Ministry to place the matter before the Committee of Secretaries (C oS) for its consideration The Committee of Secretaries in its meeting held in 2009 made a set of recommendations In particular, it recommended to the Ministry of Labour & Employment to consider suggestions of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) for revising the definition of hazardous processes re -examining the issue of division/vesting of powers to make rules between Centre and States; examination ol definitions by Department of Legal Affairs; inclusion of licensing provision for expansion creating hazardous conditions inside the factories; unhygienic practices inside the factories; re-examination of provisions to gauget heir impact on factories as well as compounding of provisions for less serious offences.
1.3 The Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) while re-drafting the Cabinet Note modified some of the proposed amendments and deleted some as per the CoS directions. A revised Cabinet Note was submitted by the Ministry of Labour & Employment containing amendments to the Factories A ct, 1948 for consideration of the Cabinet in November,2010. Subsequently the Prirne Minister’s Ofiice (PMO) constituted an Expert Committee to examine the revised MoLE proposals and make specific recommendations regarding the proposed amendments to the Factories Act 1948.
1.4 In pursuance of the orders of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Labour & Employment notified constitution of an Expert Committee to examine the amendments to the Factories Act 1948, vide order dated December 30, 2010
(Annexure-I). The compositiono fthe Commlttee\ \’as a s u nder: –
(i) Dr. Narendra Jadhav ChairPerson
Member, Planning Commission
(ii) Dr. Kaushik Basu Member
Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance
(iii) Shri Prabhat C. Chaturvedi Member
Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment
1.5 The Expert Committee was asked to examine the proposed amendments to the Factories Act, 1948 and make its recommendations In particular, the Expert Committee was asked to examine the following issues and suggest specific amendments:
(i) Concerns arising out of disasters like the Bhopal gas tragedy, such as industrial disaster mitigation, rehabilitation and compensation for industrial workers and other affected persons, toxic waste disposal and site remediation, long-term health problems, criminal liability etc.;
(ii) The role and accountability of public servants, like inspectors of factories and other stakeholders; and
(iii) The general enforceability of the Act.
Note: Report of Expert Committee on Amendment to the Factories Act 1948 attached
