THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT ACT

[STANDING ORDERS], 1946.

It requires employers in industrial establishments to

clearly define the conditions of employment by
issuing standing orders duly certified.

Model standing orders issued under the Act deal

with classification of workmen, holidays, shifts,
payment of wages, leaves, termination, etc.
OBJECT AND SCOPE
To define with certain precision the conditions of
employment and
Make the said conditions known to workmen
1) To enforce uniformity in the conditions of service
2) Once made known to workmen cannot change
3)Express/Written conditions of employment, worker
can accept them and the join the estb.
4) For maintaining industrial peace and continued
productivity
In respect of the matters enumerated in the Sch,
applicable to all workers irrespective of their time of
appointment.
SCOPE
It extends to whole of India

Applies to every industrial establishment wherein 100

or more workmen are employed or were employed on
any day preceding 12 months

The Appropriate Govt. after giving 2 months notice

extend the provisions to estb. employing less than 100
workmen
It can also exempt any estb. From all or any of the
provisions of this Act.
DOES NOT APPLY TO
(i) any industry to which the provisions of Chapter
VII of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946,
apply; or

(ii) any industrial establishment to which the

provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial
Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1961 apply
DERBY TEXTILES LTD. v/s. KARAMCHARI
UNION

Certified standing orders become part of the statutory

and not contractual terms and conditions of service

and are binding on both the employer and the
employees.
II. DEFINATIONS

“APPELLATE AUTHORITY”

means an authority appointed by the appropriate

Government by notification in the Official Gazette to
exercise in such area as may be specified in the
notification the functions of an appellate authority
under this Act :
“Certifying Officer”
means a Labour Commissioner or
a Regional Labour Commissioner,
and includes any other officer appointed by the
appropriate Government,
by notification in the Official Gazette,
to perform all or any of the functions of a Certifying
Officer under this Act
“EMPLOYER”
means the owner of an industrial establishment to
which this Act applies, and includes-
(i) in a factory, any person named under as manager
of the factory;
(ii) in any industrial establishment under the control
of any department of any Government in India, the
authority appointed by such Government in this
behalf, or where no authority is so appointed, the
head of the department;
(iii) in any other industrial establishment, any person
responsible to the owner for the supervision and
control of the industrial establishment;
“ standing orders”
means rules relating to matters set out in the
Schedule:
III. CERTIFICATION OF DRAFT STANDING
ORDERS
1. Submission of draft standing orders.—
(1)Within six months from the date on which this Act
becomes applicable to an industrial establishment, the
employer shall submit to the Certifying Officer five
copies of the draft standing orders proposed by him for
adoption in this industrial establishment.

(2) Such draft Standing Orders shall be in conformity

with such Model Standing Orders if any, and contain
every matter set out in the Schedule which may be
applicable to the industrial establishment.
(3) The draft standing orders submitted shall be
accompanied by a statement giving prescribed
particulars of the workmen employed in the industrial
establishment including the name of the trade union,
if any, to which they belong.

 (4) Subject to such conditions as may be

prescribed, a group of employers in similar industrial
establishments may submit a joint draft of standing
orders under this section.
2. Conditions for certification of standing
orders.--Standing orders shall be certifiable under
this Act if--
 (a) provision is made therein for every matter
set out in the Schedule which is applicable to the
industrial establishment, and
 (b) the standing orders are otherwise in
conformity with the provisions of this Act ;

and it shall be the function of the Certifying Officer

or appellate authority to adjudicate upon the fairness
or reasonableness of the provisions of any standing
orders.
FAIRNESS OR REASONABLENESS OF STANDING
ORDERS

If the certifying Officer finds that some provisions, as

proposed by the employer relate to matters which are
not included in the Sch, or

Finds that some provisions are unreasonable

He must refuse to certify

PROCEDURE TO BE FOLLOWED BY
CERTIFYING OFFICER
3. Certification of standing orders.—

(1) On receipt of the draft the Certifying Officer shall forward a

copy thereof to the trade union, if any, of the workmen, or where
there is no such trade union, to the workmen in such manner as
may be prescribed, together with a notice in the prescribed form
requiring objections, if any, which the workmen may desire to
make to the draft standing orders to be submitted to him within
fifteen days from the receipt of the notice.

(2) After giving the employer and the trade union or such other
representatives of the workmen as may be prescribed an
opportunity of being heard, the Certifying Officer shall decide
whether or not any modification of or addition to the draft
submitted by the employer is necessary to render the draft
standing orders certifiable under this Act, and shall make an
order in writing accordingly.
(3) The Certifying Officer shall thereupon certify the
draft standing orders, after making any modifications
there in which may require, and shall within seven
days thereafter send copies of the certified standing
orders authenticated in the prescribed manner to the
employer and to the trade union or other prescribed
representatives of the workmen.
4. Effect of Certification

The Act is a special law in regard to matters

enumerated in the Sch. And the regulations made
by the employer with respect to any of those
matters.

These are of no effect unless such regulations are

certified by the Certifying Officer
5. Register of standing orders. -- A copy of all
standing orders as finally certified under this Act shall
be filed by the Certifying Officer in a register in the
prescribed form maintained for the purpose, and the
Certifying Officer shall furnish a copy there of to any
person applying there for on payment of the
prescribed fee.
Appeals.--
1) Any employer, workmen, trade union or other prescribed
representatives of the workmen aggrieved by the order of
the Certifying Officer may, within thirty days from the date
on which copies are sent appeal to the appellate authority,

2) The appellate authority, whose decision shall be final,

shall by order in writing confirm the standing orders either
in the form certified by the Certifying Officer or after
amending the said standing orders by making such
modifications thereof or additions there to as it thinks
necessary to render the standing orders certifiable under
this Act.

3) The appellate authority shall, within seven days of its

order send copies thereof to the Certifying Officer, to the
employer and to the trade union or other prescribed
representatives of the workmen, accompanied
Date of operation of standing orders.--
Standing orders shall, unless an appeal is preferred
come into operation on the expiry of thirty days from
the date on which authenticated copies thereof are
sent

or where an appeal as aforesaid is preferred, on the

expiry of seven days from the date on which copies of
the order of the appellate authority are sent
Posting of standing orders.--
The text of the standing orders as finally certified
under this Act shall be prominently posted by the
employer in English and in the language understood
by the majority of his workmen on special boards to
be maintained for the purpose at or near the entrance
through which the majority of the workmen enter the
industrial establishment and in all departments
thereof where the workmen are employed.
.Duration and modification of standing
orders.--
1) Standing orders finally certified under this Act shall not,
except on agreement between the employer and the
workmen or a trade union or other representative body of
the workmen be liable to modification until the expiry of six
months from the date on which the standing orders or the
last modifications thereof came in to operation.

2) an employer or workman or a trade union or other

representative body of the workmen may apply to the
Certifying Officer to have the standing orders modified, and
such application shall be accompanied by five copies of the
modifications proposed to be made, and where such
modifications are proposed to be made by agreement
between the employer and the workmen or a trade union or
other representative body of the workmen a certified copy
of that agreement shall be filed along with the application.
Payment of subsistence allowance.--
1) Where any workman is suspended by the employer
pending investigation or inquiry into complaints or
charges of misconduct against him, the employer shall
pay to such workman subsistence allowance-
 (a) at the rate of fifty per cent of the wages
which workman was entitled to immediately preceding
the date of such suspension, for the first ninety days of
suspension; and
 (b) at the rate of seventy-five per cent of such
wages for the remaining period of suspension if the
delay in the completion of disciplinary proceedings
against such workman is not directly attributable to the
conduct of such workman.
 (2) If any dispute arises regarding the subsistence
allowance payable to a workman the workman or the
employer concerned may refer the dispute to the Labour
Court, constituted under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
and the Labour Court to which the dispute is so referred
shall, after giving the parties an opportunity of being
heard, decide the dispute and such decision shall be final
and binding on the parties.

 (3) If the provisions relating to payment of

subsistence allowance under any other law for the time
being in force in any State is more beneficial than the
provisions of this section, the provisions of such other law
shall be applicable to the payment of subsistence
allowance in that State.
Certifying Officers and appellate
authorities to have powers of Civil
Court
1) Every Certifying Officer and appellate authority shall
have all the powers of a Civil Court for the purposes of
receiving evidence, administering oaths,, enforcing the
attendance of witnesses, and compelling the discovery and
production of documents, and shall be deemed to be a
Civil Court within the meaning

2) Clerical or arithmetical mistakes in any order passed by

a Certifying officer or appellate authority, or errors arising
therein from any accidental slip or omission may, at any
time, be corrected by that Officer or authority or the
successor in office of such officer or authority, as the case
may be.
Temporary application of model
standing orders.--
(1) For the period commencing on the date on which
this Act becomes applicable to an industrial
establishment and ending with the date on which the
standing orders as finally certified under this Act
 come into operation in that establishment, the
prescribed model standing orders shall be deemed to be
adopted in that establishment, and the provisions of
shall apply to such model standing orders as they apply
to the standing orders so certified.
Where there are two categories of workmen, one in
respect of the daily rated workmen and the other in
respect of the monthly rated workmen, if there are
certified standing orders in respect of the daily rated
workers only,

the prescribed model standing orders should be

deemed to have been adopted for those who are
employed on the monthly basis until such categories
have their own certified standing orders,
Penalties and procedure.--
 1) An employer who fails to submit draft standing orders as
required by Section 3 or who modifies his standing orders
otherwise than in accordance with Section 10, shall be
punishable with fine which may extend to five thousand
rupees, and in the case of a continuing offence with a further
fine which may extend to two hundred rupees for every day
after the first during which the offence continues.

 (2) An employer who does any act in contravention

of the standing orders finally certified under this Act for his
industrial establishment shall be punishable with fine which
may extend to one hundred rupees, and in the case of a
continuing offence with a further fine which may extend to
twenty-five rupees for every day after the first during which
the offence continues.
Interpretation, etc., of standing
orders.--
If any question arises as to the application or
interpretation of a standing order certified under this
Act, any employer or workman or a trade union or
other representative body of the workmen may refer
the question to any one of the Labour Courts
constituted under the Industrial Disputes Act,. 1947,

and the Labour Court to which the question is so

referred shall, after giving the parties an opportunity of
being heard, decide the question and such decision
shall be final and binding on the parties.
Power of exempt.--

The appropriate Government may by notification in

the Official Gazette exempt, conditionally or
unconditionally any industrial establishment or class
of industrial establishments from all or any of the
provisions of this Act.
Power to make rules.--
1) The appropriate Government may after previous
publication, by notification in the Official Gazette, make
rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(2) such rules may—
 (a) prescribe additional matters to be included in the Schedule,
and the procedure to be followed in modifying standing orders
certified under this Act in accordance with any such addition;
 (b) set out model standing orders for the purposes of this Act;
 (c) prescribe the procedure of Certifying Officers and appellate
authorities;
 (d) Prescribe the fee which may be charged for copies of
standing orders entered in the register of standing orders;
 (e) provide for any other matter which is to be or may be
prescribed;
3) Provided that before any rules are made representatives of
both employers and workmen shall be consulted by the
appropriate Government.
THE SCHEDULE
MATTERS TO BE PROVIDED IN STANDING ORDERS
UNDER THIS ACT

 1. Classification of workmen, e.g., whether

permanent, temporary, apprentices, probationers, or badlis.

 2. Manner of intimating to workmen periods and

hours of work, holidays, pay-days and wage rates.

 3. Shift working.

 4. Attendance and late coming.

 5. Conditions of, procedure in applying for, and

the authority which may grant leave and holidays
6. Requirement to enter premises by certain gates, an
liability to search.
 7. Closing and reporting of sections of the
industrial establishment, temporary stoppages of work and
the rights and liabilities of he employer and workmen arising
there from.
 8. Termination of employment, and the notice
thereof to be given by employer and workmen.
 9. Suspension or dismissal for misconduct, and acts
or omissions which constitute misconduct.
 10. Means of redress for workmen against unfair
treatment or wrongful exactions by the employer or his
agents or servants.
 11. Any other matter which may be prescribed.
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
Can the certified standing orders framed by KMP and
Co. under the Industrial Employ. Standing Orders
Act, be treated merely as employers instructions to
workers?

No, the certified standing orders framed can not be

treated as merely employers instructions. They
become part of the Statutory and not contractual
terms and conditions of service and are binding on
both employers and employees.
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
The works manager of ABC Co. refused to give the
workers a copy of the certified standing orders or
even show it to them, the workers struck work. Was
this step of the works manager justified?

A workman was entitled to subsistence allowance on

suspension. However the certified standing orders
provided that the workman has to mark his
attendance during the suspension to claim
subsistence allowance. The workman argued that he
could not be compelled to attend the office during the
period of suspension. Decide.
PRACTICAL QUESTIONS
A development officer of an insurance company used
to remain absent from duty without leave. He was
asked to show cause why he should not be removed
from the service. He sent his reply. Thereupon, he was
removed from the service without holding any
inquiry. Is the removal justified?

A worker was under suspension. The proceedings

could not be completed in 90 days after which the
suspended worker demanded increase in subsistence
allowance under the Act. Will he succeed?