Overlapping/Conflict between Central and State Labour Laws

The ‘Labour’ is a subject included in the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.  The concept of “Appropriate Government” envisages that both Central and State Governments are competent to legislate in their respective spheres.

Under the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, both Central and State Governments are appropriate Governments to fix, review and revise the minimum wages for different categories of workers employed in the scheduled employment under their respective jurisdictions.

The Second National Commission on Labour which submitted its Report in 2002 had recommended that the existing Labour Laws should be broadly grouped into four or five Labour Codes on functional basis. Accordingly, the Ministry has initiated steps for drafting four Labour Codes on Wages; Industrial Relations; Social Security & Welfare; and Safety and Working Conditions, by simplifying, amalgamating and rationalizing the relevant provisions of the existing Central Labour Laws.

This information was given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment,in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.