Industrial Disputes (Special Provisions) Act 2022

Official English translation. The Sinhala text prevails. Open the official Sinhala text, official PDF on documents.gov.lk

Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged

s 1Short title and date of operation

This Act may be cited as the Industrial Disputes

(Special Provisions) Act, No. 19 of 2022 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, in consultation with the Minister assigned the subject of Justice, appoint by Order published in the Gazette.

s 2Labour tribunal to exercise the power of a Magistrate

(1)

Every labour tribunal established under section 31A of the Industrial Disputes Act (Chapter 131) shall, in addition to the powers and duties conferred by written law, exercise the powers conferred upon a Magistrate for the purpose of enforcement of any award made by any arbitrator or industrial court or any order made by the labour tribunal under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act (Chapter 131) or any decision of the Commissioner or recovery of payment upon a certificate issued by the Commissioner or implementation of the provisions incidental hitherto of the enactments specified in the Schedule I hereto (in this Act referred to as the “specified enactments”).

(2)

For the purposes of this Act, the jurisdiction of a labour tribunal as mentioned above shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (3), be limited to a judicial division of a

Magistrate’s Court as may be demarcated under subsection (3) of section 5 of the Judicature Act, No. 2 of 1978 where the labour tribunal is situated.

Industrial Disputes (Special Provisions)

(3)

The jurisdiction of a labour tribunal referred to in

Column I of the Schedule II hereto shall be limited to the judicial division of the Magistrate’s Court referred to in the corresponding entry in Column II of that Schedule.

(4)

For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that the Magistrate’s Court shall continue to exercise such other powers other than the powers under subsection (1) of this section as specified in the specified enactments in any judicial division of the Magistrate’s Court including judicial division specified in Column II of Schedule II.

s 3Applicability of the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 and Evidence Ordinance (Chapter14)

(1)

The President of a labour tribunal specified in

Column I of Schedule II shall have the power and authority to hear, try, determine and dispose of cases in a summary way by virtue of the provisions of the Code of Criminal

Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 in relation to the enforcement of any award made by any arbitrator or industrial court or any order made by the labour tribunal under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act (Chapter 131) or any decision of the Commissioner or recovery of payment upon a certificate issued by the Commissioner or implementation of the provisions of the specified enactments.

(2)

There shall be a duly appointed Registrar and an incidential staff for the purpose of implementing the functions specified under subsection (1) of section 2 of this Act.

(3)

The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure

Act, No. 15 of 1979 and Evidence Ordinance (Chapter 14)

shall mutatis mutandis apply to and in relation to the procedure to hear, try, determine and dispose of the suits or prosecutions before the labour tribunal:

Provided that, the provisions of Evidence Ordinance

(Chapter 14) shall not apply for the conduct of proceedings under section 31B of the Industrial Disputes Act (Chapter

131) by the labour tribunal.

s 4Sinhala text to prevail in case of inconsistency

In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.