Factories Act, 1948 · Chapter I: Preliminary
Section 5: Power to exempt during public emergency
The Factories Act, 1948 was repealed and replaced by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
In any case of public emergency the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, exempt any factory or class or description of factories from all or any of the provisions of this Act [except section 67] for such period and subject to such conditions as it may think fit:
Provided that no such notification shall be made for a period exceeding three months at a time. [Explanation.—For the purposes of this section “public emergency” means a grave emergency whereby the security of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened, whether by war or external aggression or internal disturbance.]
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 5
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Sukanya Shantha v. Union of India & Ors.
Matter pertains to caste-based discrimination in the prisons in the country.
- Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha & Anr. v. The State of Gujarat