[Analysis] What Survives the Repeal of the Four Wage Acts – Section 69 | Savings Clause | 2026 Case Law

Section 69 of the Code on Wages, 2019 repealed the Payment of Wages Act 1936, the Minimum Wages Act 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act 1976 with effect from 21st November 2025, having already reached sections 7, 8 and 9 of the 1948 Act on 18th December 2020. The repeal is not total. Section 69(2) deems notifications, appointments and orders under the repealed Acts to continue under the Code so far as they are not contrary to it, and section 69(3) applies section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 to preserve accrued rights and pending proceedings.

Table of Contents

1. When did the Code on Wages come into force?
2. Which Acts were repealed, and by which provision?
3. What does repeal actually do?
4. What does the savings clause in section 69(2) preserve?
5. Which old rules still apply?
6. Section 6 of the General Clauses Act: the second layer of protection
7. Six decisions of 2026 on how the transition is working
8. When does section 6 of the General Clauses Act not apply?
9. A working checklist for the transition
10. Quick answers

1. When did the Code on Wages come into force?

The Code on Wages, 2019 (29 of 2019) received the assent of the President and was published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1, No. 48, dated 8th August 2019. It then sat, largely unenforced, for more than six years.

Three dates matter, and they are frequently run together.

Date	What happened
18 December 2020	Notification S.O. 4604(E) brought three items into force: sub-sections (1), (2), (3), (10) and (11) of section 42 and clauses (s) and (t) of section 67(2), in each case to the extent they relate to the Central Advisory Board; and section 69 “[to the extent it relates to sections 7 and 9 (to the extent they relate to the Central Government) and section 8 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948]”.
21 November 2025	Notification S.O. 5322(E) enforced the Code generally: sections 1 to 41; sub-sections (4) to (9) of section 42; sections 43 to 66; section 67(1), clauses (a) to (r) and (u) to (zc) of section 67(2) and section 67(3) to (5); section 68; and section 69 except the provisions already covered by serial 3 of S.O. 4604(E). The four Acts stood repealed from this date. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 was enforced the same day by S.O. 5320(E).
8 May 2026	The Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified by G.S.R. 343(E). Until this date the Code was in force with almost none of its own central machinery — the Advisory Board rules of 2021 aside.

The commentary makes a point of the third date that is worth borrowing. At Para 1.7 it records that the Central Government enforced the Code from 21st November 2025 and notified the final Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 from 8th May 2026, “as such Code on Wages, 2019 is finally enforced with effect from 8th May, 2026.” The Code became law in November. It became workable in May.

The provision-by-provision position is recorded on the face of the text throughout the commentary. There are seventy-seven enforcement statements across seventy-six footnotes. Seventy-three give the general date of 21st November 2025 and four give the earlier date of 18th December 2020; the arithmetic works out at seventy-six footnotes rather than seventy-seven because the footnote to section 69 carries both dates.

2. Which Acts were repealed, and by which provision?

Section 69(1) expressly repeals four enactments:

• the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936);
• the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948);
• the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 (21 of 1965); and
• the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (25 of 1976).

Together those four represent close to nine decades of statute, and behind them sits a body of case law considerably older than the Code that has replaced them. The question every practitioner has been asking since November 2025 is how much of it still bites.

Section 69 itself corresponds to section 40 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and section 18 of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 — both of which were repeal-and-saving clauses dealing with the Ordinances that preceded those Acts. The comparison is instructive: those clauses were housekeeping. Section 69 is doing something far heavier.

3. What does repeal actually do?

At common law, a great deal more than most people assume.

The commentary opens the discussion at Para 69.1 with the common-law rule in its unvarnished form: except as to transactions past and closed, a statute after its repeal is completely obliterated as if it had never been enacted, and the effect is to destroy all inchoate rights and remedies which have arisen under it. Save where proceedings were commenced, prosecuted and brought to finality before the repeal, no proceedings under the repealed statute can be commenced or continued afterwards in the absence of a saving clause.

That is the default. It is why saving clauses exist at all, and why the Code needed section 69(2) and 69(3) rather than section 69(1) alone.

The Supreme Court’s formulation, quoted in the commentary at Para 69.2, is that whenever an Act is repealed it must be considered, except as to transactions past and closed, as if it had never existed; the effect is to obliterate the Act completely from the record of Parliament as if it had never been passed, and it never existed except for the purpose of those actions which were commenced, prosecuted and concluded while it was an existing law.

Repeal, the commentary adds, “is not a matter of mere form but is of substance, depending on the intention of the legislature.”

4. What does the savings clause in section 69(2) preserve?

Section 69(2) opens with a non obstante clause — “Notwithstanding such repeal” — and then saves two categories.

First, anything done or any action taken under the repealed enactments, including specifically:

• any notification;
• any nomination;
• any appointment; and
• any order or direction made thereunder.

Second, any amount of wages provided in any provision of those enactments for any purpose.

All of it is deemed to have been done, taken or provided for that purpose under the corresponding provisions of the Code.

Two conditions qualify the saving, and both are doing real work.

Condition one: consistency. Saved matters continue in force only “to the extent they are not contrary to the provisions of this Code”. A notification under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 that is inconsistent with the Code does not survive merely because it was validly issued.

Condition two: duration. The saving runs “till they are repealed under the corresponding provisions of this Code or by the notification to that effect by the Central Government.” It is a bridge, not a permanent transplant. Every saved notification is on notice.

The commentary sounds a caution at Para 69.7 that is easy to skip and expensive to miss: a provision preserving rights accrued under a repealed Act “was not intended to preserve the abstract rights conferred by the repealed Act.” A crystallised right survives. A general entitlement conferred by the old statute does not survive the statute.

It also states the correct method of enquiry, which is the opposite of the intuitive one. To decide whether rights and liabilities under a repealed law have been extinguished, the proper approach is not to ask whether the new enactment has kept them alive, but whether it has taken them away. The absence of a saving clause is neither material nor decisive.

5. Which old rules still apply?

Between 21st November 2025 and 8th May 2026 the Code was in force with almost none of its own central rules — only the Code on Wages (Central Advisory Board) Rules, 2021, made after the Advisory Board provisions were notified in December 2020. The Central Government’s own FAQ addresses the position directly, and it is reproduced in the commentary:

Which rules will be applicable during the transition period?
As per the provisions of Section 6 of General Clauses Act, 1897, old rules will remain in force till final notification of new rules under the Code, to the extent these are in line with Codes.

That gap is now closed at the Centre. The Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 expressly supersede seventeen earlier rule-sets, running from the Payment of Wages (Procedure) Rules, 1937 through to the Code on Wages (Central Advisory Board) Rules, 2021 and the Ease of Compliance to Maintain Register rules — “except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession”.

It is not closed everywhere. Rule-making under the Code is split. Section 67(3) reserves to the Central Government the exclusive power to make rules on sections 9(1), 9(3), 26(7)(i), 26(7)(ii), 32(a) and (b), 34(c), 36(1), 36(2) and 53(1) — and on those subjects a State Government has no jurisdiction at all. On the subjects listed in section 67(2), both Governments may make rules, each as the appropriate Government for its own establishments. Where a State has not yet notified its rules, the FAQ position continues to govern.

6. Section 6 of the General Clauses Act: the second layer of protection

Section 69(3) provides that, without prejudice to section 69(2), section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 shall apply to the repeal.

Section 6 provides that unless a different intention appears, a repeal shall not —

• revive anything not in force or existing at the time the repeal takes effect;
• affect the previous operation of the repealed enactment or anything duly done or suffered under it;
• affect any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under it;
• affect any penalty, forfeiture or punishment incurred for an offence committed against it; or
• affect any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture or punishment,

and any such investigation, legal proceeding or remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced, and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment imposed, as if the repealing Act had not been passed.

The commentary at Para 69.8 sets out the Supreme Court’s guidance on how the section operates where repeal is accompanied by re-enactment — which is exactly this case. The question, it holds, “is not whether the new Act expressly keeps alive old rights and liabilities but whether it manifests an intention to destroy them”, and section 6 applies to a repeal even where there is a simultaneous re-enactment, unless a contrary intention can be gathered from the new statute.

There is a limit worth marking. Section 6 saves a right accrued or a liability incurred; it does not create one. An existing right has to be determined on the basis of the statute that applied to it, not the new one. And where a new Act confers a right, it does so prospectively from the date it comes into force unless it says otherwise. The Code plainly confers new rights; what it does not do, through section 6, is confer them backwards.

7. Six decisions of 2026 on how the transition is working

This is the part that cannot be found anywhere else, because the decisions are of 2026 and the questions they answer arose only when the Codes were switched on.

Law & Practice Relating to Code on Wages carries six pronouncements of 2026 on the working of the new regime, from four High Courts and the Supreme Court. Five are collected at Para 69.8, on how the savings machinery has been applied across the Codes. The sixth sits at Para 2.33-4, on the definition of wages. Note the spread: two of the five at Para 69.8 turn on the Industrial Relations Code and one on the Code on Social Security, because the transition questions are common to all four Codes and the savings analysis is the same.

Decision	Proposition as recorded in the commentary
Union of India v. Heavy Vehicles Factory Employees’ Union 2026 LLR 249 (SC)	Sudden exclusion of allowances for the purpose of calculating statutory benefits is illegal.
Tech Mahindra Ltd. v. Union of India 2026 LLR 128 (Bom. HC)	The savings clause under the Code on Wages, 2019 protects actions taken under the old law.
N.A. Sebastian v. Union of India 2026 LLR 256 (Del. HC)	Authorities under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 will continue functioning until the authorities under the Industrial Relations Code are appointed.
Glastronix LLP v. President/General Secretary, Glastronix Karmika Sangha 2026 LLR 390 (Karn. HC)	Where a reference order was made before the retrospective repeal of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the reference remains valid.
United Labour of Federation v. Union of India 2026 LLR 135 (Mad. HC)	The Industrial Disputes Act and the Standing Orders Act have not been repealed yet.
Salem Mandala Manuneddhi Amaipuchara Mattrum Kattumana Thozhirchanga M v. Government of Tamil Nadu 2026 LLR 130 (Mad. HC)	Under the Code on Social Security, 2020, a new welfare cess scheme may be framed.

Read together, a pattern emerges that is more reassuring for continuity than the bare words of section 69(1) would suggest. Courts have so far declined to treat the switch-over as a cliff edge. Appointments hold. References survive. Actions taken under the old law are protected. The direction of the early authority is that the machinery of the previous regime keeps turning until the new machinery is actually in place, not merely enacted.

These are early decisions on a young Code and none of them is the last word. Their value now is as the first fixed points in a field where most published commentary is still speculating. The full text of each, with parallel citations, is on Taxmann.com | Premium, which carries the Labour Laws module alongside the rest.

8. When does section 6 of the General Clauses Act not apply?

The commentary lists the exceptions at Para 69.9. Section 6 does not apply —

• to the repeal of a British Act, and so did not apply to the repeal of the Government of India Act, 1935 by the Constitution;
• to an Act that comes to an automatic end by efflux of time; and
• where a contrary intention is clear. Section 6 applies unless a contrary intention appears in the enactment in question.

The third is the only one likely to be argued here, and it is the reason section 69(3) was drafted as it was. By stating expressly that section 6 applies, Parliament removed the argument that the Code, being a comprehensive re-enactment, manifests a contrary intention.

9. A working checklist for the transition

Six questions, in the order in which they should be asked, for any matter straddling 21st November 2025.

1. Had the right crystallised before the repeal? If yes, section 6 of the General Clauses Act preserves it and the remedy may be instituted, continued or enforced. If it was a general entitlement rather than an accrued right, it went with the statute.
2. Is there a notification, appointment or order under the old Act that the matter depends on? If yes, section 69(2) deems it to continue — but test it against the Code for inconsistency, and check whether it has since been superseded.
3. Was the proceeding commenced before 21st November 2025? Early authority indicates continuity: existing authorities continue to function and references made before the repeal remain valid.
4. Which rules govern? At the Centre, the Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 from 8th May 2026, superseding seventeen earlier rule-sets. In a State that has not yet notified, the old rules continue so far as they are in line with the Code.
5. Is the subject one reserved to the Centre? Check section 67(3). On those subjects a State rule has no jurisdictional basis.
6. Is the provision in force at all? Most of the Code was enforced on 21st November 2025, but a narrow set of Advisory Board provisions came into force on 18th December 2020, and the enforcement footnotes have to be read provision by provision.

10. Quick answers

Is the Code on Wages implemented?
Yes. It was enforced generally from 21st November 2025 by Notification S.O. 5322(E), and the Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 were notified on 8th May 2026 by G.S.R. 343(E).

What is the effective date of the Code on Wages, 2019?
21st November 2025 for the Code generally, by S.O. 5322(E). A narrow set of provisions came into force earlier, on 18th December 2020, by S.O. 4604(E): parts of section 42 and of section 67(2) relating to the Central Advisory Board, and section 69 so far as it relates to sections 7, 8 and 9 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

Which Acts did the Code on Wages repeal?
Four: the Payment of Wages Act 1936, the Minimum Wages Act 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act 1976, by section 69(1).

Do notifications issued under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 still apply?
Section 69(2) deems them to have been made under the corresponding provisions of the Code, so far as they are not contrary to it, until they are repealed under the Code or by a notification of the Central Government.

Can a claim under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 still be pursued?
Where the right had accrued before the repeal, section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 — applied by section 69(3) — preserves the right and the remedy, and the proceeding may be instituted, continued or enforced as if the Code had not been passed.

Which rules apply in a State that has not notified rules under the Code?
The Central Government’s FAQ states that the old rules remain in force until the final notification of new rules under the Code, to the extent they are in line with the Codes.

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Section 69 is treated across eleven numbered paragraphs in Taxmann’s Law & Practice Relating to Code on Wages by Sunil Kumar Tripathi, Senior Advocate — from the common-law effect of repeal through express and implied repeal, the savings clause, and the application and non-application of section 6 of the General Clauses Act. The commentary states the law as on 20th July 2026 and prints the enforcement date of every provision on the face of the text.

Related reading: the definition of wages under section 2(y) · the Wages (Central) Rules, 2026, rule by rule · the Code on Wages 2019 — complete guide.