No need for separate law for Muslim women: AIMPLB

‘Existing personal law enough to handle most situations’

Speakers at a seminar organised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Thursday unanimously conveyed their feeling that there was no need for a separate law for Muslim women as was being proposed by the government in recent times.

The day-long event drew the participation of several persons of eminence and students from across the country. Maulana Khalid Nadvi of the Nadwadul-Ulema and Khalid Saifullah Rehmani, both members of the Board spoke extensively, explaining how the existing personal law was enough to handle most situations that arose in the community.

The Nadwadul-Ulema, Lucknow was till a few years ago, the first and only Arabic university, before two more, including the Al Mahad Al Diniya Al Arabiya and another such educational institution where the medium of instruction is Arabic, were established here in Hyderabad.

GOs resented

Over a dozen speakers expressed their resentment against Government Orders in some States seeking the imposition of ‘Surya Namaskar and Vandemataram’ on school children and said it had hurt the community as a whole.

Further, they regretted that the current syllabus in schools was coloured in ‘saffron’.

The faith of Muslims they said, was badly affected by the concepts that were imposed on them, like ‘yoga, Surya Namaskar and Saraswati Vandanam’.

Prohibited in Islam

According to the teachings of Islam, they said the sun, moon and the universe were made subservient to man by God. The aim of their creation was to benefit man and in turn, man was instructed to bow before God and express his gratefulness.

Treating the sun as god and conveying man’s wishes and bowing before it was prohibited in Islam, they said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/no-need-for-separate-law-for-muslim-women-aimplb/article7947362.ece

Law college student arrested

• Staff Reporter

: A law student was arrested by the Museum police on Wednesday for allegedly ragging and assaulting his college-mates.

The e police said the accused identified as Faizal Khan (24), from Chadayamangalam, was a student of the Government Law College. He was arrested on the basis of a complaint submitted by the college management.

The accused had been dismissed from the college following charges of ragging and assault. He allegedly attacked another student using a machete a month ago. More recently, he had entered the college premises and attempted to create problems, the police said.

 Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/law-student-arrested/article7947911.ece

Parliament has power to govern judicial appointment process: Law Minister

First statement from Law Minister on judicial appointment after the Supreme Court struck down the NJAC Act on October 16

Over a month after the Supreme Court struck down a law on appointment of judges to the higher judiciary, the government on Wednesday asserted in Lok Sabha that the Parliament has the “power” to “govern” the criteria and process for appointment of judges to the Apex Court and High Courts.

“The Parliament shall have the power, within parameters of the Constitution, to govern the criteria and process for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and the High Courts,” Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda said in a written reply.

This is the first time the Law Minister has spoken in Parliament on the SC verdict that struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014,.

A group of MPs had asked the government whether it proposes to ‘review’ the NJAC Act after the SC struck down the law on October 16. They had also sought details of the proposed ‘follow up’ action.

Mr. Gowda said that after the order, the collegium system of appointment of judges has been again declared as operational. As the SC considers introduction of “appropriate measures” to improve the working of collegium system, the government has submitted its suggestions for the same,” Mr. Gowda said.

“The government has taken the stand that it reserves liberty to take such action as it may deem fit, and nothing in the suggestions made by the government or participation in the proceedings ought to be construed as the government being estopped from such action,” he said.

During a discussion on ‘commitment to the Constitution’ in the Rajya Sabha on November 27, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that no position of law “can ever justify” a situation where the CJI appoints other judges and everyone else becomes irrelevant.

Noting that independence of judiciary is absolutely essential, the lawyer-turned-politician said the appointment of judges to high judiciary should be a consultative process.

“Today, the absolute contrary to what Dr. Ambedkar had envisaged is happening,” Jaitley said, adding, “today we have reached a position where the CJI will appoint and everyone else is irrelevant. No position of law can ever justify it,” he had said.

The collegium system made a return after a gap of six months after the SC verdict.

The National Judicial Appointments Commission Act and an accompanying Constitution Amendment Act were brought into force on April 13. It overturned the collegium system. But the two Acts were struck down on October 16 by a Constitution bench of the Apex Court.

 Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/parliament-has-power-to-govern-judicial-appointment-process-law-minister/article7945325.ece

Gujarat’s controversial Labour Laws Bill gets Presidential assent

President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to the contentious Labour Laws Bill of Gujarat, which has provisions to ban strikes in public utility services for up to one year. The Bill was sent for the President’s approval along with the controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill, 2015, which is yet to be given the green light.

Mr. Mukherjee has received representations against both Bills from the Opposition in Gujarat.

Of the 65 State laws sent to the President this year, only 34 have got assent.

The President has also refused to give assent to the Sikkim Promotion of Local Employment Bill, 2008, which proposed 80 per cent employment in the private sector for people carrying the Sikkim Subject Certificate.

According to a Right to Information request filed by The Hindu, the Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2015, was cleared by the President on September 20. The Sikkim Promotion of Local Employment Bill was rejected on September 26 because it violated Sections 14, 15 and 19 of the Constitution.

Repugnant to Central laws

As their contents had certain clauses repugnant to the Central government laws, the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent the two Bills for inter-ministerial consultation before forwarding them to the President. Not all State laws are sent to the President for assent. It is done only when a law runs counter to the Central government laws, deviates from the national policies and its legal and constitutional validity can be challenged.

When the Bill was passed in the Gujarat Assembly in February this year, the entire Opposition walked out, terming it as “anti-labour” and “pro-private industries.”

Over a dozen amendments were made to the original law regarding labour laws protecting labourers in factories and other sectors. Among other contentious clauses, the time limit for workers to raise objections to the decisions of the industries has been reduced to one year from three years.

The Gujarat government passed the Bill to “relax labour laws to give an impetus to industrialisation in the State.”

The most controversial amendment was over settlement of disputes between workers and the management “out of court” by compounding a certain amount of money in the government agency.

"This provision will reduce unnecessary and endless litigation, as court cases go on for years. Thus, we want to introduce a system wherein labourers can arrive at a compromise with employers without approaching court,” Labour and Employment Minister Vijay Rupani said, defending the provision.

“For this, the government will charge up to Rs. 21,000 in penalty from the employer and give 75 per cent of the money to the affected employee or employees. This will bring quick solutions and reduce the burden on courts,” Mr. Rupani said.

Congress lawmaker Shaktisinh Gohil criticised the government for bringing in the amendments which were against the interests of workers and favoured industrialists.

As for the GCTOC Bill, a senior official of the Union Home Ministry told The Hindu that it was still in the President’s office but he had not asked for any clarification.

As reported by The Hindu earlier, the Union Home Ministry watered down the Bill and prevailed over the Gujarat government’s suggestion to let the State Home Secretary be the final authority on phone-tapping requests.

The Union Home Ministry said the State could not have “absolute powers” and such decisions would be processed only by the Union Home Secretary. 

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/gujarats-controversial-labour-laws-bill-gets-presidential-assent/article7938265.ece

 

Government aims to move five more reforms to labour laws

The government is striving to introduce five more labour reform legislations in the winter session of Parliament, including the bills to introduce a new wage and industrial relations code and amend laws governing child labour and bonus payments.

These are in addition to the amendments to the Factories Act of 1948 that the government had listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha last week, but eventually wasn’t tabled.

The only new bill to be introduced in Parliament’s lower house so far in this session is the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday that the Opposition party with 45 MPs in the Lok Sabha would not allow dilution of labour laws by the NDA government just as it had thwarted its attempts at changing the land acquisition law.

“If time permits, we want to at least table the Bills to introduce the Wage and Industrial Relations codes, the new law for small factories and the amendments to the Child Labour and Payment of Bonus Acts,” a senior official in the union labour and employment ministry told The Hindu.

“We may not be able to pass all these bills in the time left in this session, but if the bills have to be studied by parliamentary committees, at least that process should start once they are tabled,” the official added, stressing that the key thrust of these reforms was creating more jobs and improving the ease of doing business.

The government has officially listed the Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha this week, which would be the penultimate week of the winter session.

The law is being changed to make more employees eligible for bonus and double such payments. It proposes to raise the salary ceiling for statutory bonus payments to Rs 21,000 per month from Rs 10,000 specified under the 1965 law.

The Small Factories (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Bill, for instance, seeks to make it easier for manufacturing firms to employ upto 40 workers by exempting them from compliance with six labour laws which include the Factories Act, the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 and the Shops and Establishment Acts of respective states.

The code on wages aims to replace four different laws pertaining to salaries — the Payment of Wages Act of 1936, the Minimum Wages Act of 1948, Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. Similarly, the code on industrial relations would substitute three different laws — the Trade Unions Act of 1926, the Industrial Disputes Act and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act of 1946.

The government has also proposed to introduce the Child Labour (Protection and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012 in the Rajya Sabha this week. The Bill proposes that children below fourteen years of age may only be allowed to work in their own family enterprises.

It also bars employment of children in hazardous occupations till the age of 18 years. Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi has, however, raised concerns about the Bill reducing the list of such occupations from 83 to just three – mining, inflammable substances and explosives and hazardous occupations as per the Factories Act.

This would leave the door open for children to be employed in sectors that are largely family-run like the carpet industry, embroidery and agriculture, Mr. Satyarthi said at a national consultation on the law in November.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/government-aims-to-move-five-more-reforms-to-labour-laws/article7955265.ece