Section 3 in The West Bengal Mazdoor, Tindal, Loader, Godownman And Other Workers (Regulation Of Employment And Welfare) Act, 1981
3. Scheme for ensuring regular employment of unprotected workers.
(1)For the purpose of ensuring an adequate supply and full and proper utilisation of unprotected workers in scheduled employments, and generally for making better provision for the terms and conditions of employment of such workers, the State Government may by means of a scheme provide for the registration of employers and unprotected workers in any scheduled employment and the terms and condition of work of registered unprotected workers, and make provision for the general welfare in such employments.(2)In particular, a scheme may provide for all or any of the following matters that is to say,-(a)for the application of the scheme to such classes of registered unprotected workers and employers as may be specified therein;(b)for defining the obligations of registered unprotected workers and employers, subject to the fulfilment of which the scheme may apply to them;(c)for regulating the recruitment and entry into the scheme of unprotected workers, and the registration of unprotected workers and employers, including the maintenance of registers, removal, either temporarily or permanently, of names from the registers, and the imposition of fees for registration;(d)for regulating the employment of registered unprotected workers, and the terms and conditions of such employment, including the rates of wages, hours of work, maternity benefit, overtime payment, leave with wages, gratuity, payment of Bonus after taking into consideration the provisions of the Payment of bonus Act, 1965 and conditions as to weekly and other holidays and pay in respect thereof;(e)for providing the time within which the registered employers shall remit to the Board the amount of wages payable to the registered workers for the work done by such workers; for requiring such employers as, in the opinion of the Board, make default in remitting the amount of such wages within the time as aforesaid to deposit with the Board an amount equal to the monthly average of such wages; for requiring the employers to make good the amount of such deposit if at any time such deposit falls short of such average; and for requiring such employers as persistently make default in making such remittances within the time as aforesaid to pay also, by way of penalty, a surcharge of such amount, not exceeding ten per cent, of the amount to be remitted, as the Board may determine;(f)for securing that in respect of the period during which employment or full employment is not available to registered unprotected workers available for work, such workers receive, subject to the conditions of the scheme, a minimum wage;(g)for prohibiting, restricting or otherwise controlling the employment of such unprotected workers by such employers as to whom the scheme does not apply ;(h)for the welfare of registered unprotected workers covered by the scheme, in so far as satisfactory provision therefor does not exist, apart from the scheme;(i)for the health and safety measures in places where the registered unprotected workers are engaged, in so far as satisfactory provision therefor is required but does not exist, apart from the scheme;(j)for the constitution of any fund including provident fund for the benefit of registered unprotected workers, the vesting of such fund, the payment and contribution to such fund, including, in so far as the provident fund is concerned, the rate of contribution to such fund after taking into consideration the provision of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and the scheme framed thereunder with suitable modifications, where necessary, to suit the conditions of work of such registered unprotected workers, and all matters relating thereto;(k)for the manner in which, day from which (either prospective or retrospective), and the person or persons by whom, the cost of operating the scheme shall be defrayed;(l)for constituting the authorities which shall be responsible for the administration of the scheme, and the fund referred to in clause (j);(m)for specifying the powers and duties which the authorities referred to in clause (l) shall exercise and perform; for providing appeals and revision applications against the decisions or orders of such authorities; and for deciding such appeals and revision applications and for matters incidental thereto;(n)for such incidental or supplementary matters as may be necessary or expedient for giving effect to the purpose of the scheme.(3)A scheme may further provide that a contravention of any provision thereof shall be punishable with imprisonment for such term as may be specified (but in no case exceeding six months in respect of a first contravention or one year in respect of any subsequent contravention), or with fine which may extend to such amount as may be specified (but in no case exceeding one thousand rupees in respect of a first contravention or three thousand rupees in respect of any subsequent contravention), or with both imprisonment and fine as aforesaid and, if the contravention is continued after conviction, with a further fine which may extend to two hundred rupees for each day on which the contravention is so continued.
