MUMBAI, July 9: The Maharashtra Industrial Relations (MIR) Bill, which claims to bring about consolidation of different labour laws dealing with industrial disputes, should be shelved, as ``it is neither well conceived, nor properly drafted'', according to industry and trade here. The MIR Bill is presently being considered by a Joint Select Committee of the state legislature.

A memorandum of the MIR Bill expressing serious reservations and apprehensions about various provisions in the bill was jointly submitted by Ram Gandhi, President, Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) and Dilip Dandekar, President, MCCI to Sabir Shaikh, Labour Minister, Government of Maharashtra, with copies to the Labour Secretary and Additional Commissioner of Labour in the last week.In the memorandum, both the chambers have pointed out that the Bill would not achieve the sought-after objectives, as it suffered from several shortcomings. ``On the other hand, many provisions of the MIR Bill, if passed, will render industrial relations in Maharashtra totally chaotic,'' they said.

The Chambers suggest that immediate short-term objectives of the government can be met by: framing suitable amendments to the BIR Act, discussing such amendments with representatives of industries to which the BIR Act now applies and effecting such amendments and reviewing them over a period to understand how they work in practice.For achieving its long-term objectives, the government should continue the comprehensive work of unifying, simplifying and liberalising the labour and industrial relations laws. ``It is a much larger task, with a wider scope. It has to be done far more carefully, and only after gaining adequate experience from the working of the amendments as above,'' they said.

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