Bengaluru, May 23 (IANS): In a surprise move, the Karnataka government on Friday exempted all factories from labour law provisions on working hours on weekly and daily basis for three months till August 21.

"All the factories registered under the Factories Act, 1948 shall be exempted from the provisions of Section 51 (weekly hours) and Section 54 (daily hours) with effect from May 22 to August 21, 2020," said Labour Under Secretary K. Shivalingaiah in an order here.

The exemption order, however, mandates that no adult worker shall be allowed or required to work in a factory for more than 10 hours in a day and 60 hours in a week.

"Provisions of Section 59 pertaining to overtime wages shall continue to be applicable without any change," said the order.

The order was issued under Section 5 of Factories Act, 1948.

The exemption will enable factories, including manufacturing and processing units across the southern state to make their employees work for more than the stipulated hours on daily and weekly basis.

"The exemption is only for 3 months to increase factory production and make up for the loss of 40 mandays since March 25 when the lockdown was enforced and extended till May 3 for the industrial sector to contain the coronavirus pandemic," an official of the Labour Department told IANS here.