The Relevance of Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946

Standing orders refers to the rules and regulations relating to conditions of recruitment, discharge, disciplinary action, holidays, leave, etc. The practice of not defining conditions of service by the employers, the advent of trade unions, and

collective bargaining created problems for maintaining industrial peace. It was felt necessary to enact an Act to provide for framing of standing orders’ in all industrial undertaking employing one hundred or more workers.

The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 is an Act that requires employers in industrial establishment formally to define conditions of employment under them. The Act came into force on April 23, 1946. From time to time, it has been amended. The Act has also introduced uniformity to terms and conditions of employment in respect

of workmen belonging to the same category and discharging the same or similar work in an industrial establishment.

Contents  hide 

1 Coverage of the Act

2 The object of the Act

3 Features of the Act

4 Concept and Natural of Standing Orders

5 Conclusion

5.1 Related

Coverage of the Act 

The Act extends to the whole of India. This applies to any industrial establishment where, on any day of the preceding twelve months, one hundred or more employees are working or employed. Notification in the Official Gazette may be made by the appropriate government and the provisions of the Act may be extended to any industrial establishment

employing less than one hundred persons, as may be stated in the notification. But the appropriate Government must give a notice of not less than two months of its intention to do so. For the following establishments, the Act does not apply:

• Any industry to which the provisions of Chapter VII of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 apply
• Any industrial establishment to which the provisions of the M.P. Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1961 apply. However, the provisions of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1916 shall apply to all industrial establishments under the control of the Central Government. 

In Avery India Ltd. v. Second Industrial Tribunal, West Bengal, it was held that the provisions as to the age of retirement in the standing orders of an establishment would apply to all employees who joined the service before or after the

coming into force of the standing orders even though there was no such provision in the past. 

Power to exempt: According to Section 14, the appropriate Government may by notification in the Official Gazette exempt, conditionally or unconditionally, any industrial establishment from all or any of the provisions of the Act.

The object of the Act

The Preamble of the Act states:

“An Act to require employers in industrial establishments formally to define conditions of employment under them.”

The aim of the Act is, therefore, to compel employers in industrial establishments to specify their conditions of

employment and to make those conditions known to the employees they employ. The Act aims to protect the workmen from unlawful exploitation. 

Features of the Act

• Submission of draft standing orders: The employer of every industrial establishment is required to submit to the Certifying Officer draft standing orders proposed by him for adoption in his industrial establishment, for certification. 
• Modification of draft standing orders: Certifying Officer is empowered to modify or add to the draft submitted by the employer as is necessary to render the draft standing orders certifiable under the Act. 
• Joint standing orders by a group of employers: A group of employers in similar industrial establishments may submit a joint draft of standing orders for certification.
• The government may set out model standing orders: The appropriate Government may set out model standing orders for the Act. The draft standing orders framed by an employer should as far as practicable conform with model standing orders. 
• Applicability of the Act: The Act normally applies to even establishments wherein one hunder or more workmen are employ or were employ on any day of the preceding twelve months.
• Certifying Officers and appellate authorities to have powers of Civil Court: Every Certifying Officer and appellate authority shall have all the powers of a Civil Court to receive evidence, administer, oaths, enforcing the attendance of a witness, and compelling the discovery and production of documents. 
• Penalties: An employer who fails to submit draft standing orders or an employer who does any act in contravention of the standing orders finally certified under the Act shall be punishable with a fine as specified in Section 13 of the Act.
• Power to Exempt: The appropriate Government may be a Gazette notification exempt any establishment or class of establishments from any of the provisions of the Act.
• Power to make rules: The appropriate Government may, after previous publication, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Concept and Natural of Standing Orders

“Standing orders” means rules relating to matters set out in the Schedule According to the Schedule, the following matters should be provided in standing orders:

• Classification of workmen, e.g., whether permanent, temporary, apprentices, probationers, badlis.
• Manner of intimating to workmen periods and hours of work, holidays pay-days and wage rates.
• Shift working
• Attendance and late coming
• Conditions of procedure in applying for, and the authority which may grant, leave and holidays.
• The requirement to enter premises by certain gates, and liability to search.
• Closing and re-opening of Sections of the industrial establishment, and temporary stoppages of work and the rights and liabilities of the employer and workmen arising therefrom.
• Termination of employment, and the notice that to be given by employer and workmen
• Suspension or dismissal for misconduct and acts or omissions which constitute employer or his agents or servants
• Means of redress for workmen against unfair treatment or wrongful exactions by the employer or his agents or servants. 
• Any other matter which may be prescribe

Thus, standing orders refers to the rules and regulations relating to conditions of recruitment, discharge, disciplinary actions, leave, etc. 

In S.K. Ghosh v. Chairman of O.S.E. Board, it was hold that the expression ‘termination of employment in item 8 of

Schedule and the words ‘superannuation’ cannot be equate. Termination of employment is an act by which one party,

even against the desire of the other, can bring employment to an end, while ‘superannuation’ is an event which comes when a holder of an office on reading a certain eye is require to go out of office.

In New Victoria Mills Co. Ltd. v. Presiding Officer, Labour Court, it was hold that the misconduct for which an employee

may be dismissed need not necessarily have been commit in the course of his employment. In Glaxo Industries (P) Ltd. v. Labour Court Meerut and Others, punishment for an act that is not enumerate as misconduct in the standing

orders of the establishment is wholly illegal.

Conclusion 

Since we have already defined that standing orders indicate a set of rules of conduct for staff in industrial settings, this

implies that standing orders are highly important. If standing orders are not present, staff will behave in any way they

want, and then the establishment’s operation will go awry. To avoid this position, it is very important and still significant to this day.