The draft of a Bill to regulate placement agencies has almost been finalised and would soon be placed before the Delhi Cabinet for approval.
Through the new Bill, the Labour Department will seek to rein in placement agencies which have been functioning in an arbitrary manner, extracting huge amounts of money from their clients while exploiting domestic helps too.
Delhi Labour Minister Ramakant Goswami said on Tuesday that the move to draft the Bill was initiated as the Labour Department had been receiving several complaints against “placement agencies whose modus operandi was found to be against established business ethics”.
With the present legislation not sufficient to curb such fraudulent practises, the new Bill was drafted to bring the functioning of the agencies under the direct supervision of the Government.
Mr. Goswami said the draft Bill will soon be placed for approval before the Cabinet and once cleared, it will be introduced in the Legislative Assembly.
He expressed these views during the Conference of Labour Ministers organised by the Union Labour Ministry.
The need to revisit the existing labour laws was felt as many of these were enacted decades ago, he said, calling for their simplification to help the workers understand their spirit and to benefit from them. “They will then also be able to understand the ways and means available to them in case of exploitation or any violation of provisions by their employers,” the Minister added.
Noting that at present it were the industrialists who were reaping the benefits of economic development, the Minister said efforts were being made to improve the lives of the workers.
“Delhi has become the first state to issue strict instructions for release of wages to workers only through ECS/crossed cheques. This will eliminate cases relating to under-payment of minimum wages. It is expected that exploitation of workers will soon become a thing of the past,” he declared.
