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Section 124: Power to exempt in public emergency

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act No. 37 of 2020) • Official Statutory Text & Plain English Practice Guide

Statutory Mandate
Chapter XIV: Miscellaneous
Competent Labour Forum
Act No. 37 of 2020
Section 123 All 143 Sections of OSH Code, 2020 Section 125

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 124

Section 124 of the Code empowers the appropriate Government to exempt any establishment or class of establishments from all or any provisions of the Code in cases of public emergency, subject to strict temporal and substantive safeguards.

  • Strict Public Emergency Standard: Limits exemption powers strictly to gravest emergencies, defined as situations of war, external aggression, or internal emergency threatening national security.
  • Temporal Limitation of Exemption Orders: Limits the maximum validity of any emergency exemption notification to three months at a time, barring open-ended or indefinite labor standard suspensions.
  • Strict Judicial Review of Labor Exemptions: Subjects emergency exemption notifications to constitutional judicial review to prevent executive overreach or unjustified dilution of worker safety.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha v. State of Gujarat (2020) 10 SCC 459: Landmark ruling: Supreme Court quashed state notifications suspending factory safety and overtime laws during COVID-19 lockdown, holding that economic slowdown does not constitute a 'public emergency' justifying suspension of labor rights under Article 21.
  • Chintaman Rao v. State of M.P. AIR 1958 SC 388: Supreme Court held that executive exemption powers must be construed strictly and cannot be exercised to nullify legislative protections.
  • Consumer Education & Research Centre v. Union of India (1995) 3 SCC 42: Supreme Court held that the constitutional right to workplace health under Article 21 cannot be suspended through administrative fiat.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

Do not rely on blanket state labor law exemption circulars unless the notification strictly cites a recognized national emergency under Section 124; following Gujarat Mazdoor Sabha, arbitrary state exemptions will be invalidated by High Courts, exposing employers to retrospective wage and overtime claims.

Section 123 All 143 Sections of OSH Code, 2020 Section 125