Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 · The industrial employment (standing orders) act, 1946
Section 1: Short title, extent and application
The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 was repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
(1) This Act may be called the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.
(2) It extends to2[the whole of India ***]. [(3) It applies to every industrial establishment wherein one hundred or more workmen are employed, or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months:
Provided that the appropriate Government may, after giving not less than two months’ notice of its intention so to do, by notification in the Official Gazette, apply the provisions of this Act to any industrial establishment employing such number of persons less than one hundred as may be specified in the notification. * * * * * [(4) Nothing in this Act shall apply to—
(i) any industry to which the provisions of Chapter VII of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 (Bombay Act 11 of 1947) apply; or
(ii) any industrial establishment to which the provisions of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1961 (Madhya Pradesh Act 26 of 1961) apply:
Provided that notwithstanding anything contained in the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1961 (Madhya Pradesh Act 26 of 1961), the provisions of this Act shall apply to all industrial establishments under the control of the Central Government.]
State amendments to this section
Karnataka Amendment of section 1.—In section 1 of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 (Central Act 20 of 1946) in its application to the State of Karnataka, for the words “one hundred” occurring in sub-section (3) and in the proviso to it, the word “fifty”, shall be substituted. [Vide Karnataka Act 37 of 1975, s. 2] Maharashtra Amendment of section 1 of Act XX of 1946.—In sub-section (3) of section 1 of the said Act, for the words “one hundred” the word “fifty” shall be substituted. [Vide Bombay Act XXI of 1958, s. 4]
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 1
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.