Whenever a socio-legal problem flares up, one can bet on two things to happen. Bollywood will make a film on it; and law-makers will pass legislation to solve it. Both will soon fade from public memory. There are several social welfare laws that are passed and forgotten. Two of them are meant to protect unorganised construction workers.
The construction industry is said to be the second largest one after agriculture. It is labour-intensive, employing 20 million and it is estimated that every Rs.1 crore invested on construction project generates employment of 22,000 unskilled man-days and 23,000 skilled or semi-skilled man-days. Recognising its importance, Parliament passed the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996.
The government stated in the preamble that construction works are characterised by their inherent risk to the life and limb of workers. The work is also characterised by its casual nature, temporary relationship between employer and employee, uncertain working hours, lack of basic amenities and inadequacy of welfare facilities. Although the provisions of various labour laws like the Minimum Wages Act, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act and Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Services) Act are applicable to building workers, there was no comprehensive central legislation for this category of workers. The two enactments were aimed to improve matters.
After nearly 15 years, the central and state governments have done little to implement these laws. Ten years after the laws came into force, a public interest petition was moved in the Supreme Court pointing out the non-implementation of the provisions of the Acts (National Campaign for Central Legislation on Construction Labour v. Union of India). The Court passed several orders over the years asking state governments to implement the main provisions of the law. There was little response. Last week, the Court took a tough stand and summoned five top labour officers in the country to be present in the Chief Justice’s Court and explain the lapse.
The dubious honour goes to the Union Labour Secretary, the Director General of Inspection, Government of India, and Labour Secretaries of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Lakshdweep.
The Court stated that many among the 36 states and Union territories have not taken even the initial steps. They have not appointed ‘Registration Officers’ before whom the employers of workers have to register their establishments. They have also ignored their obligation to constitute state welfare boards.
(Source : Extracts from M. J. Antony’s article in Business Standard, dated 23-3-2011)
