Standing orders 1946

1. Introduction
Name: The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
Extend: Whole of India (J&K from 1970)
Number of Sections: 15 Sections
Schedule: 1 Schedule (Maters to be provided in Standing order
under this Act)

2. Object of the Act
• Is to provide service rules to workman.
• Is to require employers in industrial establishments to
formally define conditions of employment under them.

3. Applicability of the Act (Sec.1)
• The Act is applicable to all industrial establishments employing 100 or
more workmen.
• The provisions of this Act shall apply to all industrial establishments
under the control of the Central Government.
• The appropriate Government may, after giving not less than 2 months
notice, apply the provisions of this Act to any industrial establishment
employing less than one hundred workmen.

4. The Act does not apply to
• any industry to which provisions of Chapter VII of the Bombay
Industrial Relations Act, 1946, apply; or
• any industrial establishment to which provisions of Madhya Pradesh
Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1961 apply.
• Section 13-B of the Act specifically exempt certain industrial
establishments from the purview of the Act, viz., the industrial
establishment in so far as the workmen employed therein are persons
to whom the
• Fundamental and Supplementary Rules,
• Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules,

5. • Civil Service (Temporary Services) Rules,
• Revised Leave Rules,
• Civil Service Regulations,
• Civilians in Defense Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules,
• Indian Railway Establishment Code, or Any other rules or regulations that may
be notified in this behalf by the appropriate Government in the Official
Gazette apply.
• Section 14 provides that the appropriate Government may by
notification in the Official Gazette exempt conditionally or
unconditionally any industrial establishment or class of industrial
establishments from all or any of the provisions of this Act

6. Definitions
Standing Orders [Section 2(g)]
Standing Orders mean rules of conduct for workman employed in an industrial
establishment. i.e. rules relating to matters set out in the Schedule to the Act.
Standing orders must specify:
• Classification of workmen i.e., temporary, casual, skilled, etc.
• Manner of intimating working hours, shift change, transfers, etc. to workmen
• Holidays
• Attendance and late coming rules
• Leave rules
• Termination of employment, suspension, dismissal, etc. for misconduct
• Retirement age
• Means of redressal of workmen against unfair treatment
• Any other matter as may be prescribed