After a series of tripartite meetings, the panel had submitted the draft of ´National Commission Act 2011´ to the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management recently.[break]
“We came up with the idea to establish the Labor Commission in view of lengthy process taking five to seven years to settle a labor dispute by the existing Labor Court established in 1997. The commission would be responsible for timely delivery of justice,” Umesh Upadhya, general secretary of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GFONT), told Republica on Saturday.
Upadhya said a final round of negotiation on the draft will be held among members of the panel before forwarding it to the Central Labor Advisory Committee, which would formally hand over the draft to the government for for the parliament to endorse.
The interim constitution has also envisaged the establishment of Labor Commission for effective and timely settlement of labor related disputes.
“Role of Labor Court will be gradually reduced once the commission comes into operation. We have wished that the labor related disputes could be settled within three months since the case is filed by the aggrieved party at the commission,” said Upadhya.
The commission will respond to the case on the spot, visit for settlement of justice or take proactive measures, seek solution of the dispute if the case becomes a national issue before it is filed before the commission.
In a bid to make the role of commission effective and to make conflicting parties responsible, the draft has sought a maximum fine of Rs 25,000 against those disobeying to implement the commission´s decision along with the provision of an additional fine of Rs 1,000 for each passing day in case of continuation of such offence.
The draft Act has provisioned a tough penalty of Rs 50,000 or a maximum six months of imprisonment against the persons who defame or misbehave the authorized persons of the commission.
In a bid to discourage undue influencing of any authorized persons of the commission to commit corruption by any party to the conflict, a fine of Rs 100,000 or a maximum of one-year jail term or both has been incorporated in the draft Act.
Similarly, any person or party to dispute failing to obey the order of the commission or refuse to answer the questions by the commission will be liable for a maximum fine of Rs 25,000 or a maximum of six months of jail-term or both. Similarly, a penalty of Rs 25,000 or a maximum of six months of imprisonment or both will be slapped against those who provide false evidence in a proceeding or threaten or encourage a person summoned for investigation.
A member of the Act drafting panel said the commission in consultation with the government shall appoint a debt recovery officer to recover any outstanding dues or fine or penalty imposed by its order.
“Amount of penalty envisioned in the Act is subjected to increase every three years by the decision of the Central Labor Advisory Council. However, 15 percent of increment will be made if the council fails to take the decision in time,” said the member.
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