NEW DELHI: Parliament on Thursday passed the Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Bill, 2026, with an aim to bring legal clarity.
Piloting the bill, Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in the Rajya Sabha said, “When the Industrial Relations Code of 2020 was passed, the three Acts were subsumed in that”.
He informed the House that those three laws were the Trade Union Act 1926, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946 and Industrial Dispute Act 1947.
He explained that the government has the power to repeal these three laws, and there is no dispute in this.
“I am not bringing any change in the system. This amendment is brought for legal clarity. We have not enabled the Code that repeals these three laws. The government can also do it itself. It is only for bringing legal clarity,” he said.
He said that in this case, there is no need for scrutiny by the standing committee, and no change has been introduced.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that this reflects poorly on the government, as the amendment is brought so late and the government is doing so after the apex court asked it to do so.
He said that his party supports the bill.
The other members who spoke on the bill in the Rajya Sabha are Dola Sen (TMC), V Sivadasan (CPI-M), M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Niranjan Bishi (BJD), A R Reddy Alla (YSRCP) and R Girirajan (DMK).
The bill was passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the bill was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha also.
The bill would help avoid any “future unwarranted complication” over the continuity of certain laws replaced by the Industrial Relations Code of 2020.
Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the Bill, Mandaviya said the four Labour Codes implemented nearly three months ago ensure a guarantee of minimum wage.
These Codes also ensure compulsory issuance of appointment letters, as well as uniform wages for the same work irrespective of gender, he said. (PTI)