Exemption from furnishing or maintaining of returns and registers requires under certain labour laws

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in a Scheduled Act, on and from the commencement of the Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Amendment Act, 2014, it shall not be necessary for an employer in relation to any small establishment or very small establishment to which a Scheduled Act applies, to furnish the returns or to maintain the registers required to be furnished or maintained under that Scheduled Act: Provided that such employer— (a) furnishes, in lieu of such returns, annual return in Form I; and (b) maintains, in lieu of such registers,— (i) registers in Form II and Form III, in the case of small establishments, and (ii) a register in Form III, in the case of very small establishments, at the work spot: Provided further that every such employer shall continue to— (a) issue wage slips in the Form prescribed in the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950 made under sections 18 and 30 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948) and slips relating to measurement of the amount of work done by piece-rated workers required to be issued under the Payment of Wages (Mines) Rules, 1956 made under sections 13A and 26 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936); and (b) file returns relating to accidents under sections 88 and 88A of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948) and sections 32A and 32B of the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 (69 of 1951). (2) The annual return in Form I and the registers in Forms II and III and wage slips, wage books and other records, as provided in sub-section (1), may be maintained by an employer either in physical form or on a computer, computer floppy, diskette or other electronic media: Provided that in case of computer, computer floppy, diskette or other electronic form, a printout of such returns, registers, books and records or a portion thereof is made available to the Inspector on demand. (3) The employer or the person responsible to furnish the annual return in Form I may furnish it to the Inspector or any other authority prescribed under the Scheduled Acts either in physical form or through electronic mail if the Inspector or the authority has the facility to receive such electronic mail. (4) Save as provided in sub-section (1), all other provisions of a Scheduled Act, including, in particular, the inspection of the registers by, and furnishing of their copies to, the authorities under that Act, shall apply to the returns and registers required to be furnished or maintained under this Act as they apply to the returns and registers under that Scheduled Act. (5) Where an employer in respect of an establishment referred to in sub-section (1), to whom a Scheduled Act applies, furnishes returns or maintains the registers as provided in the proviso to sub-section (1), nothing contained in that Scheduled Act shall render him liable to any penalty for his failure to furnish any return or to maintain any register under that Scheduled Act.