Industrial Disputes Act, 1947: What Replaced It and What Changed

Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 to Industrial Relations Code, 2020: section map

This map lines up each subject of the repealed Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 against where it now sits in the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, with a verdict on each row. Where the supplied Code text carries the provision, the new-code section is cited in brackets; where the supplied text does not carry it, the row says so plainly.

New-code cells are grounded in the supplied Industrial Relations Code, 2020 text: cells citing IR Section 4, 62 or 79 come from that text, while cells marked not in supplied text describe a mechanism you should verify. Old-act references describe the subject of the repealed Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and give section numbers from general knowledge of that Act, not from the supplied text.

What changed

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 keeps the shape of the old law but widens and tightens several duties. Three shifts matter most for employers, and all three are grounded in the supplied Code text.

• Strike and lock-out discipline now reaches every covered industrial establishment. Under IR Section 62 a worker cannot strike without giving notice within sixty days before striking, cannot strike within fourteen days of that notice, and is barred during conciliation and for seven days after it, during Tribunal or National Industrial Tribunal proceedings and for sixty days after, during arbitration and for sixty days after, and while a settlement or award is in operation. Employers face the mirror rules for lock-outs. The 1947 Act tied the strike-notice duty mainly to public utility services, so extending it across establishments is a real change.
• Retrenchment in larger establishments follows IR Section 79: three months written notice with reasons, or wages in lieu of that notice, plus prior permission of the appropriate Government on an application, electronic or written, served on the affected workers. If the Government does not communicate its order within sixty days, permission is deemed granted. The size threshold that decides which establishments need this permission was raised under the Code; the specific number sits elsewhere in the Code and is not in the text supplied for this page.
• Grievance handling is more prescriptive. IR Section 4 requires a Grievance Redressal Committee in every establishment with twenty or more workers, with an equal number of employer and worker members, a chairperson who rotates yearly, a cap of ten members, women representation no less than the share of women workers, a one-year window to file a grievance, thirty days to complete proceedings, and a sixty-day route onward for a worker who remains aggrieved.

What stayed the same

Most of the old Act's machinery carries into the Code under new numbering. An employer who understood the 1947 framework will recognise the core.

• Works Committees continue as a joint employer and worker forum in larger units. The Code retains this device; the specific new section is not in the supplied text.
• Conciliation officers, Tribunals, National Industrial Tribunals, arbitration and the binding force of settlements and awards all survive. IR Section 62 itself refers to each of these stages.
• Prior-permission retrenchment for large units remains the model, now in IR Section 79, rather than being abolished.
• General retrenchment still turns on notice or wages in lieu plus compensation and at least one year of continuous service. The Code carries this forward; the specific new section is not in the supplied text.
• The split between an individual grievance, handled by the committee under IR Section 4, and a collective dispute, handled through conciliation and adjudication, is preserved.

What was dropped or newly added

Some duties are formalised or sharpened, and the Code also introduces ideas the 1947 Act did not carry. Ground the deletions in the source rather than in memory.

• Newly explicit in the Code text: the sixty-day deemed-permission clock for retrenchment in IR Section 79, so official silence now has a defined legal effect.
• Newly detailed: the composition and timelines of the Grievance Redressal Committee in IR Section 4, including the women-representation floor and the one-year filing limit, which the older machinery stated far more loosely.
• The Code is widely understood to add concepts the 1947 Act did not address, such as fixed-term employment, a recognised negotiating union and a worker re-skilling fund. These are not in the supplied text, so treat them as items to verify rather than as grounded facts.
• For genuine deletions, rely on the Code's repeal-and-savings schedule. The supplied text does not by itself prove which specific old provisions were dropped.

Transition traps for employers

The repeal is settled, but the migration is where mistakes happen. Watch these.

• Do not assume strike-notice rules still bind only public utilities. Under IR Section 62 the notice and cooling rules apply across covered establishments.
• Do not assume the old permission threshold for retrenchment still applies. It was raised under the Code, so confirm the current number before relying on being exempt.
• Track the sixty-day clock in IR Section 79. If the Government stays silent, permission is deemed granted, which cuts both ways for planning.
• Audit your Grievance Redressal Committee. Twenty or more workers means a committee of up to ten members with women representation; an old-style constitution may now be non-compliant.
• Update every citation. Appointment letters, standing orders, HR policy manuals and statutory notices that quote old Act section numbers should be re-pointed to the Code.
• Reset internal timelines. Build the one-year filing window, the thirty-day disposal target in IR Section 4 and the sixty-day onward route into your grievance SOP.

How to confirm

Read the Code text in full and check the repeal against the source before you act. Open indiacode.nic.in, pull the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, and read Sections 4, 62 and 79 in context. Confirm the repeal of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 in the Code's repeal-and-savings schedule, and confirm the current size thresholds and any provision this page describes as a mechanism, because those specifics are not in the text supplied for this page.

Frequently asked questions