Labour reforms by states to defeat purpose: Experts

As the Centre nudges states and Union territories (UTs) to make "necessary" amendments to their existing labour laws in a bid to align them with the "spirit" of the four new labour codes passed by Parliament in the absence of a clear timeline for notifying these codes, experts opine that state-level reforms have only limited potential in terms of achieving ease of doing business, streamlining regulation, improving working conditions, and supporting industry growth.

- SHIVA RAJORA

Besides, labour reforms by states end up creating fragmented jurisdictions, which exacerbate complexity in their implementation, thus making the whole reform exercise undertaken by the Centre redundant.

Labour lawyer B C Prabhakar says that a large number of establishments have their operations in multiple states, thus making it cumbersome for them to comply with numerous rules and regulations. Also, establishments working in the central sphere will have to keep following the Centre's old laws, thus putting them at a disadvantage with regard to other establishments in a state.

"The new codes were passed with the objective of creating some sort of uniformity in labour jurisprudence. Now, if states were to go ahead and make changes in their own laws, they won't be uniform and it will end up complicating the whole implementation apparatus, in effect negating the entire reform exercise," he adds.