1
REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION(C) NO.318 OF 2006
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMTT.,C.L.LABOUR ...PETITIONER.
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ...RESPONDENTS.
ORDER
The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of
Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 (for short ‘The Act’),
was passed by the Parliament and in this writ petition it is alleged that
many of the provisions of the enactment are not put in practice and the
respective authorities have not complied with the statutory provisions.
All the State Governments and Union territories are impleaded as parties
in this writ petition. The Act is intended to benefit the unorganized
workers in the construction sector. Under Section 6 of the Act, the
appropriate Government has to appoint registering officers and under
Section 7 of the Act every employer shall register their establishment.
The building workers are given various benefits and in order to enable
the workers to avail the benefits, each State has to constitute a State
Welfare Board. The Board shall consist of a Chairman nominated by the
Central Government, and such other Members, not exceeding 15, as may
be appointed by the State Government. The Board shall appoint a
Secretary as its Chief Executive Officer.
2
Under Section 22 of the Act, the Board may provide immediate
assistance to the beneficiaries in case of accident, and also pay
compensation to those workers who had completed the age of sixty
years. The Board may also sanction loans and advances to the
beneficiaries and also to give financial assistance for the education of
children of the beneficiaries and also to give the benefit of group
insurance schemes. The Board can also grant maternity benefit to the
female beneficiaries. A construction welfare fund has to be constituted
and there are other provisions also to regulate the conditions of service
of construction workers. There are also provisions to take care of the
safety and health conditions of the workers. In order to implement the
provisions there shall be inspecting staff and certain penal provisions are
also in the Act to punish those who act in violation of the provisions of
enactment.
The Parliament has also passed the Building and Other
Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996 for the purpose of levy and
collection of cess and Section 3 of the Act envisages that- there shall be
levied and collected a cess for the purposes of the Building and Other
Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of
Service) Act, 1996, at such rate not exceeding two percent; but not less
than one per cent of the cost of construction incurred by an employer, as
the Central Government may specify for him to time. Section 62 of the
Building and
3
Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act says that proper Rules are
to be framed by the Government after consultation with the expert
committee.
The learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioners filed a
chart before us indicating the steps that had been taken by the various
state governments. It says that many of the governments had not taken
steps as per the provisions of the Act. Though some of the state
governments have collected cess but the benefits have not been fully
passed on to the construction workers. Some of the State governments
have not constituted either the State Advisory Committee or the expert
committee or the Welfare Board as envisaged under the Act. The Delhi
Government has framed detailed Rules, namely, the Delhi Building and
Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions
of Service) Rules, 2002. These Rules exclusively deal with the matter
and gives various model forms also for compliance of the provisions of
the Act. The State Governments and Union Territories which have not
framed the rules as per Section 62 of the Act can very well take the Delhi
Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and
Conditions of Service) Rules 2002, as a model and the same can be
adopted for the purpose of this Act. Copy of the same is available on
internet and the same can be had from the Government of Delhi.
We direct the Chief Secretary of the respective States and
4
Secretary (Labour) of each States and the Union Territories to take timely
steps as per the provisions of the Act, if not already done. We would
like to have the appraisal report in the first week of May as to what steps
have been taken in this regard. If any of the State Government has not
done anything pursuant to the Act, urgent steps are to be taken so that
the benefits of this legislation shall not go waste. Otherwise the
unorganized workers of the construction sector will be denied the
benefit of the Act.
Post in the 1st week of May, 2009.
A copy of the order be sent to the Chief Secretary of all the States
and Secretary (Labour) of each State and the Union Territories for taking
further action in this regard.
……………….CJI
(K.G. BALAKRISHNAN)
…………………J
(P. SATHASIVAM)
…………………J
(J.M. PANCHAL)
NEW DELHI;
JANUARY 13, 2009.