Repealing Act Of 2016 Does Not Remove Section 2A(2) Of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947: Calcutta High Court
Live LawThe Calcutta High Court recently ruled that the Labour Courts/Tribunals constituted under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 have the power to exercise jurisdiction under Section 2A of the Act and that the Repeal and Amendment of the Industrial Disputes Act, 2010 as a whole, by the Repeal and Amendment Act of 2016, neither has the effect of removing the said section from the statute book, nor ousting the jurisdiction of the said courts/tribunals. The object of the Repealing Act is to remove unnecessary Acts, which have achieved their purpose and to strike out dead matter from the statue book…Lastly, although it has been argued that notwithstanding repeal of sections 2A of the said Act, the workman continues to enjoy the benefit of raising an individual dispute, since the West Bengal amendment protects such individual workmen, in my view the aforesaid state amendment does not have the effect of removing sections 2A of the said Act, from the statute book.” Background The writ applications filed by the petitioners in this case, challenged the orders passed by the Tribunals/Labour Courts constituted under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, whereby the Tribunals/Labour Courts not only allowed the proceedings but also proceeded to hear out matters, by exercising jurisdiction under section 2A of the said Act, notwithstanding the repeal of the Industrial Disputes Act, 2010 as a whole, by the Repeal and Amendment Act of 2016. The Labour Courts/Tribunals had themselves held in several cases that despite the repeal of the Industrial Disputes Act, 2010, they are competent to exercise jurisdiction under section 2A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The primary question that fell before the bench was “whether consequent upon the Repealing Act, being notified and published in the Gazette of India on 9th May, 2016, and the Amendment Act of 2010, in terms of Section 2 of the Repealing Act, being repealed as a whole, whether the amendments brought about by the Amendment Act of 2010 survives in the principal Act, for the Tribunals/Labour Courts to exercise jurisdiction on the basis of the amended provisions of the principal Act, which were brought about by the Amendment Act of 2010.” The advocates representing on behalf of the employers had extensively argued that in order to remove the anomaly created, which was brought about by the incorporation of the Amendment Act of 2010, the Repealing Act had been notified.
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