Government declares currency printing presses and mints as public utility service

The government in a notification on Friday has declared printing presses and mints as public utility service under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The notification issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment is valid for six months and can be reissued after expiry, the Indian Express reported.

The notification is part of a series of notifications issued earlier on January 15, and July 13, last year, announcing currency printing presses and mints as public utility service. Following the declaration, employees will have to comply with rules pertaining to strikes and lockouts.

The printing presses and mints included in the declaration are India Security Press (Nashik), India Government Mints (Kolkata, Noida, Mumbai and Hyderabad), Security Printing Press (Hyderabad), Security Paper Mill (Hoshangabad) Services in the Bank Note Press (Dewas), and Currency Note Press (Nashik Road).

Also, in a separate notification issued on February 1, the ministry had declared the services of ‘Transport (other than railways) for the carriage of passengers or goods (by land or water)’, covered by entry 1 in the First Schedule to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, as a public utility service for six months.

Likewise, chemical fertilisers industry and coal industry were declared as public utilities on December 28 and November 1 last year respectively.

Bhartiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Limited in Mysore and Salboni in West Bengal were also turned into public utilities on October 9, 2018.

Adding to the list have been ‘services engaged in the industrial establishments manufacturing or producing Nuclear Fuel and components, Heavy Water and Allied Chemicals and Atomic Energy’ that were declared public utilities on September 27, 2018.

‘Copper mining industry’, ‘uranium industry’, ‘service in any oilfield’ were also given the public utility status on September 6, 2018.

Most of these notifications have been issued to renew their status of public utility service from an earlier dated notification.

Public utility service is defined as any railway service (or any transport service for the carriage of passengers or goods by air); any service in, or in connection with the working of, any major port or dock; any section of an industrial establishment, on the working of which the safety of the establishment or the workmen employed therein depends; any postal, telegraph or telephone service; any industry which supplies power, light or water to the public; any system of public conservancy or sanitation.