‘Grammatical amendments’ proposed in Factories Act bill

Gandhinagar: Next week, Gujarat govt will table a bill in the monsoon session of the assembly to convert the Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Ordinance — promulgated in July this year — into the Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2025.Remarkably, more than half of the "minor changes" proposed by the govt are cited as "grammatically amended" replacements. The amendments will correct spelling mistakes, eliminate grammatical lapses, and remove incorrectly used words and phrases.The textual mistakes include the use of "physic" when "physical" was required; the noun-verb swap which yielded "CCTV coverage shall be storage" instead of "CCTV footage shall be stored"; and a syntax twist producing "at the rate of twice" instead of "twice the rate of". A note titled ‘Minor Changes in the Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2025' signed by industries minister Balvantsinh Rajput was provided to the assembly secretariat. The note says 12 of the 23 proposed "minor changes" are grammatical amendments. The note was posted on the Gujarat assembly website on Thursday.The bill will be tabled in the assembly during its monsoon session from Sept 8-10. Notably, govt will have to put these avoidable errors through the legislative process for rectification. Among other changes proposed by govt, the word "see" is to be replaced by the more assertive sounding "ensure". The law-drafting endeavour apparently left a redundant "and" in one place and missed inserting it when it was necessary. Govt said changes are meant "to specify and clarify the provisions" and "to maintain parity with the provisions of the Factory Act, 1948". Earlier this week, state govt spokesperson Rushikesh Patel told reporters after a cabinet meeting that the Factories (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2025, will be introduced to convert an ordinance into an act.He said the law aims to bring legal provisions to create benefits and security measures, particularly for women workers, and to amend working hours to encourage industrial investment and employment opportunities.