Section 120 of the Factories Act 1948 - Repeal and Savings
Section 120 was the repeal and savings provision at the end of the Factories Act, 1948. It repealed the earlier enactments identified in the Table originally appended to the section while protecting qualifying acts already done under those earlier laws.
Text of Section 120: Repeal and Savings
120. Repeal and savings.
The enactments set out in the Table appended to this section are hereby repealed:
Provided that anything done under the said enactments which could have been done under this Act if it had then been in force shall be deemed to have been done under this Act.
Table: The Table containing the enactments repealed was itself repealed by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1950 (35 of 1950), section 2 and the First Schedule, with effect from 10 April 1950.
What Section 120 meant
The provision had two connected functions. First, it formally displaced the earlier factory-law enactments listed in the original Table. Second, its savings clause prevented valid steps taken under those earlier enactments from becoming ineffective merely because the Factories Act, 1948 replaced the earlier statutory framework.
In simple terms, an earlier act that could validly have been done under the Factories Act was treated as if it had been done under the Factories Act. This is the purpose of the words stating that such an act "shall be deemed to have been done under this Act." The deeming provision therefore supported legal continuity during the transition to the 1948 Act.
Meaning of repeal and savings
Repeal
A repeal removes an earlier enactment, or specified provisions of it, from the operative statutory framework. Section 120 performed that function for the enactments originally identified in its Table.
Savings
A savings provision protects specified legal consequences despite repeal. Section 120 preserved qualifying things already done under the repealed enactments by deeming them to have been done under the Factories Act, provided they were things that could have been done under the 1948 Act.
Why the Table is no longer reproduced
The original Section 120 referred to a Table of repealed enactments. The Table was later repealed by the Repealing and Amending Act, 1950. The operative savings language of Section 120 nevertheless continued to appear in the text of the Factories Act.
Current law after 21 November 2025
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 is now the central consolidating legislation relevant to occupational safety, health and working conditions. The Code came into force on 21 November 2025.
Section 143 of the Code is titled "Repeal and Savings." It repeals the Factories Act, 1948 along with other specified labour enactments. It also contains transitional provisions for officers and for actions, rules, regulations, bye-laws, notifications, appointments, orders and directions under the repealed enactments, subject to the terms of Section 143. It further applies Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 to the repeal.
Official legal resources
For authoritative reference, see the Ministry of Labour and Employment text of the Factories Act, 1948 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 on India Code.
Related Factories Act provisions
Section 120 formed part of Chapter XI, Supplemental. Nearby provisions include Section 119, dealing with the overriding effect that the Factories Act formerly had in relation to inconsistent law, and the preceding supplemental provisions on rule-making, government factories, statutory protection and disclosure of information.