Parliament passed the Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Bill 2026, formally clarifying the repeal dates of three landmark labour laws: the Trade Unions Act 1926, the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946, and the Industrial Disputes Act 1947. All three Acts stand repealed with effect from November 21, 2025, when the four Labour Codes came into force.
The amendment was introduced to address ambiguity around the exact date of repeal of the old laws, which had created legal uncertainty for employers and trade unions navigating the transition to the new consolidated framework. The Industrial Relations Code 2020 is one of four codes — the others being the Code on Wages 2019, the Code on Social Security 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 — that together subsume 44 central labour laws into a streamlined legislative architecture.
The Opposition raised concerns during debate, arguing the bill facilitates "ease of firing" by diluting worker protections enshrined in the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, which historically required government permission for retrenchment in establishments with over 100 workers. Government defenders countered that the codes preserve core worker rights while modernising India's labour regulatory framework for a competitive economy.
The passage of this amendment completes the legislative consolidation process that began with the Code on Wages in 2019. The transition to the four Labour Codes is expected to reduce compliance burden for businesses, improve dispute resolution timelines, and extend formal social security coverage to gig and platform workers — a constituency not covered under the older fragmented framework.