The district administration of Morbi District in Gujarat required all migrant workers to register themselves with the local police mandatorily. This also came with a warning that failure to follow this guideline within 15 days of its issuance would lead to criminal charges.
As reported by The Wire, within a month, more than 50 cases have been registered against non-compliant employers. This warrants a question why is this registration even mandatory in the first place?
As Sukanya reported in her piece the notification translated that, the crimes such as robbery, dacoity, murder, and kidnapping are being linked to the migrant workers, and it was stated that after committing crimes, these migrants frequently fled away from the district. This registration will ensure that investigating authorities can keep track of the migrant workers working in agriculture, foundry businesses, factories, and construction sites.
In Gujarat, like other states migrant workers are typically employed in low-skilled and low-paying jobs, such as construction, domestic work, and agriculture. They often lack access to basic services such as healthcare, education, and housing.
I argue that despite the existence of various labor laws in Gujarat, releasing this notification that highlights the failure of the provisions of labour laws in Gujarat as registration of migrant workers has already been envisaged under various national and state legislations
There are several legislations which apply to most of these employers already under the current regime of labour laws which are as follows:
1. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979
This central act applies to all establishments and contractors that employ five or more inter-state migrant workers. Section 4 mandates that all principal employers should register their establishments with the registering officer, and Section 6 prohibits the employment of any inter-state migrant workman without registration. Section 8 of the act also mandates that the contractor cannot recruit any person in the state without the licensing officer’s permission, while Section 12 requires contractors to issue and retain a passbook for each worker containing their personal information and details of their wages and conditions of service.
2. The Gujarat Shops and Establishments Act, 2019
This state act applies to shops and establishments employing ten or more workers. Section 6 of the act requires employers to register their establishments with the Inspector within 60 days of the commencement of the act. Additionally, Section 7 provides for the registration of shops and establishments employing less than ten workers.
3. The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
This national legislation defines a “building worker” as a person employed to do any skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical, or clerical work for hire or reward in connection with any building or construction work. Section 7 of the act requires every employer to register their establishment within 60 days of the commencement of the act, while Section 10 prohibits employers from employing building workers in the establishment after this period.
4. Factories Act, 1948
Under Section 6 of the Act, the State government may make rules requiring the Factories to register with the state government and obtain a license to operate.
Section 7 of the Act also mentions that the occupier of the factory shall, at least fifteen days before they begins to occupy or use any premises as a factory, send to the Chief Inspector a written notice submitting details such as the factory’s name and location, the manufacturing process’s nature, the number of workers employed, and the hours of work.
Additionally, under Section 61 of the Act, the factory must maintain a register of workers, which should contain information such as the name and address of the worker, their age, sex, and nature of work, the date of their employment, and their wages. This register should be available for inspection by the inspector appointed under the Act.
Furthermore, the factory is also required to display a notice containing the name and address of the inspector appointed under the Act and the hours during which they may be contacted.
5. The Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008
Section 9 of the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, provides that the State Government may set up such Workers’ facilitation centres to facilitate the registration of unorganised workers and to obtain registration from the District Administration.
The term unorganized worker has been defined under the Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008, as a home-based worker, self-employed worker or a wage worker in the unorganized sector and includes a worker in the organized sector who is not covered by any of the Acts mentioned in Schedule-II of Act.
6. eShram
E-Shram Portal is a timely intervention to introduce online national database of unorganised workers, with an aim to register India’s 38 crore (around 380 millions) unorganised-sector workers including migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers, etc. After registering on the portal, these workers can get an E-Shram card using their Aadhaar and bank account details. More than 63 lakh workers from the unorganised sectors spread across 150 sub-sectors in Gujarat have registered in the e-Shram portal by the last year itself.
The recent notification released by the Morbi administration, mandating the registration of migrant workers with the local police, raises questions about the state’s effectiveness of the existing labor laws. The notification assumes that the state labor law regime has failed, and the officials have not been able to implement the integral existing provisions that make the registration of migrant workers mandatory within the existing framework.
It is important to note that aforementioned labor laws already make it mandatory for employers to register their establishments and workers with relevant authorities.
Therefore, the government’s recent notification suggests a lack of implementation and enforcement of existing labor laws in the state, which has resulted in the need for an additional registration requirement. It raises concerns about the vulnerability of migrant workers in the state who are often employed in low-skilled and low-paying jobs and lack access to basic services such as healthcare, education, and housing.
Efforts should be made to strengthen the implementation and enforcement of existing labor laws to ensure the protection of the rights of all workers, including migrant workers. The registration of migrant workers should not be an additional burden on the workers and the employers, but rather a part of a comprehensive approach to ensure their safety and welfare. We hope that this notification is withdrawn and the administration liaisons with the other departments for better enforcement of the labour laws.