BETWEEN CODIFICATION AND CONFLICT:A COMPARATIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES ACT, 1947AND THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CODE, 2020

Abstract

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020, is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in the history of post-independence industrial relations in India. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which for more than 70 years had been the main law in the field of dispute settlement between capital and labour, has been merged and significantly recast into a unified statutory framework incorporating the Trade Unions Act, 1926 and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. This paper aims at a systematic comparative legal examination of the two legislative regimes in terms of their definition, the institutional dispute resolution mechanisms, threshold-based protections and implications for worker rights and industrial harmony. Using a doctrinal approach based on statutory interpretation, judicial precedent and secondary sources, the research explores how far the move from the old regime to the new one is a step forward for labour protection and how far it is a structural adjustment to accommodate flexibility for the employer. The analysis shows that while the Code brings welcome innovations such as fixed-term employment recognition, bi-partite forums and grievance redressal committees, the increase in the threshold for prior government permission for retrenchment and closure from one hundred to three hundred workers is a clear sign of a reduction in job security for a large section of the organised workforce. The conclusions indicate that the consolidation of legislation, while convenient from an administrative standpoint, must not be used as a means of watering down substantive safeguards for workers, and that the Code requires carefully thought-out changes to ensure that it serves its constitutionally prescribed purpose of ensuring justice, social equity and permanent industrial peace.