Rajavelu for consolidated Labour Act

PUDUCHERRY: Welfare and labour minister P Rajavelu, on Tuesday, suggested enactment of a consolidated ‘Wages Act’. He was speaking at the 44th session of the Indian Labour Conference in New Delhi.This Act would combine the Wages Act, Minimum Wages Act and Equal Remuneration Act, in order to avoid cumbersome procedures and maintenance of multiple registers by the employers. He said the consolidated Wages Act could be enacted as a first step towards framing a comprehensive Labour Act.Rajavelu said the qualifying years of service for getting gratuity may be reduced from five years to three years under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 which would benefit the workers.The minister wanted necessary amendments to the Industrial Disputes Act to extend the power of adjudication to the conciliation officers to perform quasi-judicial powers to settle alldisputes in a short period. At present, by way of collective bargaining, the conciliation officers  settled most of disputes across the table.