22) Obstructions.-
1) Whoever obstructs an inspector in the discharge of his duties under this Act or refuses or willfully neglects to afford the inspector any reasonable facility for making any inspection, examination, inquiry or investigation authorized by or under this Act in relation to an establishment to which, or a contractor to whom, this Act applies, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.
2) Whoever willfully refuses to produce on the demand of an inspector any register or other document kept in pursuance of this Act or prevents or attempts to prevent or does anything which he has reason to believe is likely to prevent any person from appearing before or being examined by an inspector acting in pursuance of his duties under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.
23) Contravention of provisions regarding employment of contract labour.- Whoever contravenes any provision of this Act or of any rules made there under prohibiting, restricting or regulating the employment of contract labour, or contravenes any condition of a license granted under this Act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both, and in the case of a continuing contravention with an additional fine which may extend to one hundred rupees for every day during which such contravention continues after conviction for the first such contravention.
24) Other offences.- If any person contravenes any of the provisions of this Act or of any rules made there under for which no other penalty is elsewhere provided, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.
25) Offences by companies.-
1) If the person committing an offence under this Act is a company, the company as well as every person in charge of, and responsible to, the company for the conduct of its business at the time of the commission of the offence shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or that the commission of the offence is attributable to any neglect on the part of any director, manager, managing agent or any other officer of the company, such director, manager, managing agent or such other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation.--For the purpose of this section—
a) "company" means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and
b) "director", in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm.
26) Cognizance of offences.- No court shall take cognizance of any offence under this Act except on a complaint made by, or with the previous sanction in writing of, the inspector and no court inferior to that of a Presidency Magistrate or a magistrate of the first class shall try any offence punishable under this Act.
27) Limitation of prosecutions.- No court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under this Act unless the complaint thereof is made within three months from the date on which the alleged commission of the offence came to the knowledge of an inspector:
Provided that where the offence consists of disobeying a written order made by an inspector, complaint thereof may be made within six months of the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.
CHAPTER VII
MISCELLANEOUS
28) Inspecting staff.-
1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit to be inspectors for the purposes of this Act, and define the local limits within which they shall exercise their powers under this Act.
2) Subject to any rules made in this behalf, an inspector may, within the local limits for which he is appointed—
a) enter, at all reasonable hours, with such assistance (if any), being persons in the service of the Government or any local or other public authority as he thinks fit, any premises or place where contract labour is employed, for the purpose of examining any register or record or notices required to be kept or exhibited by or under this Act or rules made there under, and require the production thereof for inspection;
b) examine any person whom he finds in any such premises or place and who, he has reasonable cause to believe, is a workman employed therein;
c) require any person giving out work and any workman, to give any information, which is in his power to give with respect to the names and addresses of the persons to, for and from whom the work is given out or received, and with respect to the payments to be made for the work;
d) seize or take copies of such register, record of wages or notices or portions thereof as he may consider relevant in respect of an offence under this Act which he has reason to believe has been committed by the principal employer or contractor; and
e) exercise such other powers as may be prescribed.
3) Any person required to produce any document or thing or to give any information required by an inspector under sub-section (2) shall be deemed to be legally bound to do so within the meaning of section 175 and section 176 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
4) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), shall, so far as may be, apply to any search or seizure under sub-section (2) as they apply to any search or seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under section 98 of the said Code.
29) Registers and other records to be maintained.-
1) Every principal employer and every contractor shall maintain such registers and records giving such particulars of contract labour employed, the nature of work performed by the contract labour, the rates of wages paid to the contract labour and such other particulars in such form as may be prescribed.
2) Every principal employer and every contractor shall keep exhibited in such manner as may be prescribed within the premises of the establishment where the contract labour is employed, notices in the prescribed form containing particulars about the hours of work, nature of duty and such other information as may be prescribed.
30) Effect of laws and agreements inconsistent with this Act.-
1) The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law or in the terms of any agreement or contract of service, or in any standing orders applicable to the establishment whether made before or after the commencement of this Act:
Provided that where under any such agreement, contract of service or standing orders the contract labour employed in the establishment are entitled to benefits in respect of any matter which are more favorable to them than those to which they would be entitled under this Act, the contract labour shall continue to be entitled to the more favorable benefits in respect of that matter, notwithstanding that they receive benefits in respect of other matters under this Act.
2) Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed as precluding any such contract labour from entering into an agreement with the principal employer or the contractor, as the case may be, for granting them rights or privileges in respect of any matter which are more favorable to them than those to which they would be entitled under this Act.
31) Power to exempt in special cases.- The appropriate Government may, in the case of an emergency, direct, by notification in the Official Gazette, that subject to such conditions and restrictions, if any, and for such period or periods, as may be specified in the notification, all or any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under shall not apply to any establishment or class of establishments or any class of contractors.
32) Protection of action taken under this Act.-
1) No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against any registering officer, licensing officer or any other Government servant or against any member of the Central Board or the State Board, as the case may be, for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rule or order made there under.
2) No suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Government for any damage caused or likely to be caused by anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any rule or order made there under.
33) Power to give directions.- The Central Government may give directions to the Government of any State as to the carrying into execution in the State of the provisions contained in this Act.
34) Power to remove difficulties.- If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as appears to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty.
35) Power to make rules.-
1) The appropriate Government may, subject to the condition of previous publication, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:--
a) the number of persons to be appointed as members representing various interests on the Central Board and the State Board, the term of their office and other conditions of service, the procedure to be followed in the discharge of their functions and the manner of filling vacancies;
b) the times and places of the meetings of any committee constituted under this Act, the procedure to be followed at such meetings including the quorum necessary for the transaction of business, and the fees and allowances that may be paid to the members of a committee;
c) the manner in which establishments may be registered under section 7, the levy of a fee therefore and the form of certificate of registration;
d) the form of application for the grant or renewal of a license under section 13 and the particulars it may contain;
e) the manner in which an investigation is to be made in respect of an application for the grant of a license and the matters to be taken into account in granting or refusing a licence;
f) the form of a license which may be granted or renewed under section 12 and the conditions subject to which the license may be granted or renewed, the fees to be levied for the grant or renewal of a license and the deposit of any sum as security for the performance of such conditions;
g) the circumstances under which licenses may be varied or amended under section 14;
h) the form and manner in which appeals may be filed under section 15 and the procedure to be followed by appellate officers in disposing of the appeals;
i) the time within which facilities required by this Act to be provided and maintained may be so provided by the contractor and in case of default on the part of the contractor, by the principal employer;
j) the number and types of canteens, rest-rooms, latrines and urinals that should be provided and maintained;
k) the type of equipment that should be provided in the first-aid boxes;
l) the period within which wages payable to contract labour should be paid by the contractor under sub-section (1) of section 21;
m) the form of registers and records to be maintained by principal employers and contractors;
n) the submission of returns, forms in which, and the authorities to which, such returns, may be submitted;
o) the collection of any information or statistics in relation to contract labour; and
p) any other matter which has to be, or may be, prescribed under this Act.
3) Every rule made by the Central Government under this Act shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions, and if before the expiry of the session in which it is so laid or the session immediately following, both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.
