Rajasthan Gig Workers’ Bill races against time with impending poll date announcement

Rajasthan government’s Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023, hailed as first of its kind, unlikely to be implemented before State Assembly elections. Bill empowers government to impose cess, has punitive provisions and creates Welfare Board for gig workers.

The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government’s marquee legislation, the Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023, which puts up stringent punitive provisions against errant aggregators, might not materialise before the elections in the State.

The bill was passed by the State assembly in July this year and was hailed as the first of its kind in the country since it establishes an employee-employer relationship between the gig workers and the platforms, such as Zomato, Swiggy, Uber et al.

However, once the Election Commission announces the poll dates, the governments are bound by the model code of conduct not to notify any new rules or make announcements that could influence the voters.

The rules to make the law functional are caught in a bureaucratic quagmire. The bill empowers the government to impose a cess which would be a percentage of every transaction that takes place on the platform. This cess is to finance a social welfare fund for the workers.

EDITORIAL | Promising Bill: On the Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023

It also has punitive provisions such as fines up to ten lakhs for the first contravention and up to a ₹one crore for subsequent ones. The errant aggregator can be temporarily or permanently barred under the law for any flagrant violations.

But without the rules in place, none of these punitive provisions can be invoked nor the cess can be collected. According to the sources, the rules have been finalised but are currently under review with the state finance department.