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2.By virtue of the Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 (Central Act 27 of 1996) and more particularly under Section 18 of the said Act, the State Governments should constitute a Board known as Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, which board shall be a body corporation having perpetual succession and a common seal. The said Board as per proviso to Section 18(3), shall include an equal number of members representing the State Government, the employers and the building workers and that at least one member of the Board shall be a woman.

6.It was also contended that under the Central Act, 27/1996, Section 18 provides for constitution of the Board and so far, the State of Tamil Nadu has not notified the said Act. The State Government by virtue of its power vested under the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Work) Act, 1982 had constituted a Board known as Construction Workers' Welfare Board. When they sought information from that Board, they were informed by the 16th respondent, i.e. Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board, Chennai, by letter dated 27.5.2008 that Cess collected under the Central Act 28/1996 is not dealt with by the Board and they were only collecting a contribution of 0.3% of the estimated cost of the construction work towards Manual Workers General Welfare Fund of the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board as per the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Construction Workers) Welfare Scheme, 1994 in terms of G.O.Ms.No.95, Labour and Employment Department, dated 2.7.1997 and G.O.Ms.No.151, Labour and Employment Department, dated 24.9.1999. Therefore, it was contended by the petitioner that while they have no objection in providing for fund created by the State Government to be credited to the 16th respondent, they have objection for the collection of 2% Cess as per the impugned circular.

"1.The Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 (for short "the Act"), was passed by 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 Government and Union Territories are impleaded as parties in this writ petition. The Act is intended to benefit the unorganised workers in the construction sector."

11.In paragraph 5 of the order, the collection of Cess is referred to, which is as follows:

"5. 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:

3. Levy and collection of cess.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 per cent but not less than one per cent of the cost of construction incurred by an employer, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, from time to time specify. Section 62* of the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act says that proper rules are to be framed by the Government after consultation with the Expert Committee.