National Institute of Labour Studies Act 2010

This Act may be cited as the National Institute of

Labour Studies Act, No. 12 of 2010.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF LABOUR STUDIES

There shall be established, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, an Institute which shall be called the National Institute of Labour Studies (hereinafter referred to as the “Institute”).

The Institute shall, by the name assigned to it by subsection (1), be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in such name.

The objects of the Institute shall be—

to implement workers education programmes with the collaboration of local or foreign institutes, to take measures to ensure welfare of workers in order to make them active partners in the development process;

to conduct seminars, workshops, conferences and meetings on labour studies and publish magazines, journals, periodicals and books in relation thereto;

to undertake research, carry out surveys and provide courses of studies relating to labour studies;

to establish and maintain libraries and information services;

to work in close collaboration with institutions, organizations, associations and societies both national and foreign, with similar objectives;

to conduct courses including Diploma Courses on

to engage in and promote activities aimed at maintaining industrial harmony.

The Institute shall have such powers as may be necessary for the discharge of its objects and functions and in particular shall have the power to do all or any of the following:—

to acquire, hold, take or give on lease or hire, mortgage, pledge and sell or otherwise dispose of, any movable or immovable property;

to open and maintain current, savings or deposit accounts in any bank or banks;

to accept grants or donations from persons or bodies of persons, whether in or outside Sri Lanka;

to enter into or perform, all such contracts as may be necessary for the exercise of its powers or the discharge of its functions;

to invest any money belonging to the Institute including any unapplied income, in any security or to invest any such money in the purchase of immovable property in Sri Lanka or vary such investments, or to place in fixed deposits in any bank; any portion of such money as are not required for immediate expenditure;

to borrow such sums of money as may be necessary for the purpose of discharging its functions;

to enter into agreements with other institutions, whether in Sri Lanka or abroad, having objects wholly or partly similar to those of the Institute for the exchange and training of personnel, research and advisory services; and generally, for such purposes as may be in furtherance of their common objectives;

to appoint, employ, remunerate and exercise disciplinary control over and dismiss such officers and servants as are necessary for the discharge of the functions of the Institute under this Act;

to charge fees for the services and assistance provided by the Institute; and

to do all such other things which in the opinion of the Institute are necessary to facilitate the discharge of its functions.

The administration, management and control of the affairs of the Institute shall be vested in the Board of

The Board shall for the purpose of administering the affairs of the Institute exercise, perform and discharge the powers, duties and functions conferred or imposed on or assigned to the Institute by this Act.

The Board shall consist of the following :—

The Secretary to the Ministry of the Minister in charge of subject of Labour shall be appointed by the Minister as the Chairman of the “Board” and the Commissioner-General of Labour shall be as the Vice-Chairman of the Board.

The Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall hold office for a term of three years and shall be eligible for reappointment.

If the Chairman is by reason of illness or absence from

If the Vice-Chairman is by reason of illness or absence from Sri Lanka, temporarily unable to perform the duties of his office, the Minister may appoint another member to act in his place.

A person shall be disqualified from being appointed or from continuing as a member of the Board, if he—

The members of the Board holding office on the day immediately preceding the date of commencement of this

It shall be the duty of the Board to advice the Minister on any or all of the matters related to the objects of the

Institute and or any such matter referred to the Board for advice by the Minister.

The Minister may give special or general directions in writing as to the performance of the duties and the exercise of the powers of the Board, and the Board shall give effect to such directions.

The Minister may in consultation with the Board exempt any member of trade union from the payment of a fee.

An appointed member of the Board shall hold office for a period of three years from the date of such appointment.

The Minister may if he considers it expedient to do so, by Order published in the Gazette, remove, with reasons assigned therefor, any appointed member of the Board from office.

An appointed member of the Board in respect of whom an Order under subsection (2) is made by the Minister shall vacate his office on the date of the publication of such Order in the Gazette.

An appointed member of the Board may at any time resign his office by a letter addressed to the Minister.

In the event of a vacancy occurring in the membership of the Board as a result of any appointed member vacating office by death, resignation, removal from office or otherwise, another person shall, having regard to the provisions of section 6, be appointed to fill such vacancy.

Where another person is appointed to fill a vacancy caused by the death, resignation, removal from office or otherwise of an appointed member, the person so appointed shall hold such office for the unexpired period of the term of office of the member of the Board whom he succeeds.

Where any appointed member is by reason of illness, infirmity or absence from Sri Lanka temporarily unable to perform his duties, for a period of not less than three months, another person may having regard to the provisions of section 6, be appointed to act in his place.

Any appointed member of the Board, who is absent without leave from three consecutive meetings of the Board shall be deemed to have vacated his office.

The Chairman or in absence of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman shall preside at all meetings of the Board.

In the event of an equality of votes at any meeting of the Board, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman or the member presiding at such meeting shall in addition to his vote, have a casting vote.

The meetings of the Board shall be convened by the

The quorum for meeting of the Board shall be five members.

The Board may pay any member with the approval of the Minister, such remuneration or allowance, as may be decided by the Board with the concurrence of the Minister in charge of the subject of Finance.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, regulations may be made by the board regulating the procedure to be followed with regard to the conduct of its meetings and the transaction of business at such.

The Board shall in the exercise of its powers, the performance of its duties and the discharge of its functions, be subject to and act in accordance with such directions as the Minister may from time to time issue.

The Board may delegate to any member of the

The member to whom such powers and duties have been delegated shall exercise and perform such powers and duties subject to the general or special directions of the

Subject to the provisions of subsection (4) of section 10 the Board shall have the power to act notwithstanding any vacancy in its membership and no act or proceedings of the Board shall be invalid by reason only of the existence of any such vacancy or any defect in the appointment of a member thereof.

The seal of the Board—

shall be in the custody of the Chairman of the Board;

shall be of such design and shall be approved by the Board and may be altered in such manner as may be determined by the Board; and

shall not be affixed to any document except in the presence of two members of the Board, both of whom shall sign the document in token of their presence.

Subject to the provisions of this Act and any regulations made thereunder, the Board shall have the power to—

appoint, dismiss, and exercise disciplinary control over the officers and servants of the Institute;

fix the wages or salaries or other remuneration of the staff;

determine the terms and conditions of service of such staff; and

establish and regulate schemes for the benefit of such staff.

The Board shall appoint a person to be the

The Director-General shall execute or perform such powers, functions and duties as may be delegated to him by the Board.

The Board may appoint such other Directors as may be necessary for the purposes of the Institute.

The Board may appoint such number of Technical

A Technical Committee appointed by the Board shall carry out its functions and fulfill its obligations as stipulated in the terms of reference given to such Technical Committee by the Board.

The Board shall determine the period of office of each

The Board may where it consider it necessary so to do, co-opt as a member to a Technical Committee any person who possesses the required knowledge and experience in the relevant field.

The Technical Committee shall comprise of three members. Namely, a representative each of the employees, the employers and the public sector.

The Board shall nominate one member to be the

The Board may pay to any member or co-opted member of a Technical Committee with the approval of the Minister, such remuneration or allowance, as may be decided by the

There shall be established a Division of Studies for Trade Unions (hereinafter referred to as “the Division of

The Board shall appoint a Director who shall function as the Divisional Head of the Division of Studies.

The Board shall appoint officers and servants as may required for the purposes of the Division of Studies.

The objects of the Division of Studies shall be to—

The Divisional Head of the Division of Studies and officers and servants shall act under the general or special directions of the Director-General of the Institute.

The Board may establish such number of branches of the Division of Studies in the regions as are required in its opinion for the achievement of the objects of the Division of Studies.

The Institute may make rules in respect of all or any matter for which rules are authorized or required by this

Every rule made by the Institute under subsection (1)

Where the Institute employs any person who has entered into a contract with the Government by which he has agreed to serve the Government for a specified period, any period of service to the Institute by that person shall be regarded as service to the Government for the purpose of discharging the obligations of such contract.

At the request of the Board, any officer in the public service serving in the Ministry of the Minister may, with the consent of the Secretary to the Ministry of the

Where any officer in the public service is temporarily appointed to the staff of the Institute, the provisions of subsection (2) of section 14 of the National Transport

Where any officer in the public service is permanently appointed to the staff of the Institute, the provisions of subsection (3) of section 14 of the National Transport

The Institute shall have its own fund.

There shall be credited to the fund of the Institute—

There shall be paid out of the fund of the Institute—

The financial year of the Institute shall be the calendar year.

The provisions of Article 154 of the Constitution relating to the audit of accounts of public corporations shall apply to and in relation to, the audit of the accounts of the

Institute.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

The Minister may make regulations in respect of matters for which regulations are required or authorized by this Act to be made or which are required by this Act to be prescribed.

Every regulation made under subsection (1) shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into operation on the date of such publication or on such date as may be specified in such regulation.

Every regulation made under subsection (1) shall as soon as convenient after its publication in the Gazette be brought before Parliament for approval and any regulation which is not so approved shall be deemed to be rescinded with effect from the date of such disapproval, but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder.

Notification of the date on which any regulation is deemed to be rescinded shall be published in the Gazette.

Any expenses incurred by any person brought against him before any court in respect of any act which is done by him under this Act or on the direction of the Board shall, if the Court holds that the act was done in good faith, be paid out of the fund of the Institute.

The Institute shall be deemed to be a Scheduled

Institution, within the meaning of the Bribery Act and the provisions of that Act shall be construed accordingly.

All members, officers and servants of the Institute shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning, and for the purposes of the Penal Code.

In the event of any inconsistency between the

Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Labour Studies” shall include the subjects of industrial relations, national or international labour standards, laws relating to labour, trade unions, employer-employee relations, employer-employee representative or organizations, worker education, human resource management and development administration, business management, productivity, manufacturing, trade marketing, social development and any study, project, programme, research, consultancy, survey, seminar, workshop, conference, training course or similar work related to labour economics or any other subject relevant thereto as shall be prescribed by the Minister.