Chapter I PRELIMINARY

(1) This Act may be called the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. (2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of March, 1996. (4) It applies to every establishment which employs, or had employed on any day of the preceding twelve months, ten or more building workers in any building or other construction work. Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, the building workers employed in different relays in a day either by the employer or the contractor shall be taken into account in computing the number of building workers employed in the establishment.

(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) “appropriate Government” means,— (i) in relation to an establishment (which employs building workers either directly or through a contractor) in respect of which the appropriate Government under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947), is the Central Government, the Central Government; (ii) in relation to any such establishment, being a public sector undertaking, as the Central Government may by notification specify which employs building workers either directly or through a contractor, the Central Government; Explanation.—For the purposes of sub-clause (ii), “public sector undertaking” means any corporation established by or under any Central, State or Provincial Act or a Government company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) which is owned, controlled or managed by the Central Government; (iii) in relation to any other establishment which employs building workers either directly or through a contractor, the Government of the State in which that other establishment is situate; (b) “beneficiary” means a building worker registered under section 12; (c) “Board” means a Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 18; (d) ”building or other construction work” means the construction, alteration, repairs, maintenance or demolition, of or, in relation to, buildings, streets, roads, railways, tramways, airfields, irrigation, drainage, embankment and navigation works, flood control works (including storm water drainage works), generation, transmission and distribution of power, water works (including channels for distribution of water), oil and gas installations, electric lines, wireless, radio, television, telephone, telegraph and overseas communications, dams, canals, reservoirs, watercourses, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, pipelines, towers, cooling towers, transmission towers and such other work as may be specified in this behalf by the appropriate Government, by notification but does not include any building or other construction work to which the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), or the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952), apply; (e) “building worker” means a person who is employed to do any skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be expressed or implied, in connection with any building or other construction work but does not include any such person— (i) who is employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity; or (ii) who, being employed in a supervisory capacity, draws wages exceeding one thousand six hundred rupees per mensem or exercises, either by the nature of the duties attached to the office or by reason of the powers vested in him, functions mainly of a managerial nature; (f) “Chief Inspector” means the Chief Inspector of Inspection of Building and Construction appointed under sub-section (2) of section 42; (g) “contractor” means a person who undertakes to produce a given result for any establishment, other than a mere supply of goods or articles of manufacture, by the employment of building workers or who supplies building workers for any work of the establishment; and includes a sub-contractor; (h) “Director-General” means the Director-General of Inspection appointed under sub-section (1) of section 42; (i) “employer”, in relation to an establishment, means the owner thereof, and includes,— (i) in relation to a building or other construction work carried on by or under the authority of any department of the Government, directly without any contractor, the authority specified in this behalf, or where no authority is specified, the head of the department; (ii) in relation to a building or other construction work carried on by or on behalf of a local authority or other establishment, directly without any contractor, the chief executive officer of that authority or establishment; (iii) in relation to a building or other construction work carried on by or through a contractor, or by the employment of building workers supplied by a contractor, the contractor; (j) “establishment” means any establishment belonging to, or under the control of, Government, any body corporate or firm, an individual or association or other body of individuals which or who employs building workers in any building or other construction work; and includes an establishment belonging to a contractor, but does not include an individual who employs such workers in any building or construction work in relation to his own residence the total cost of such construction not being more than Rs. 10,00,000; (k) “Fund” means the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund of a Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 24; (l) “notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette; (m) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act by the Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government; (n) “wages” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (vi) of section 2 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936). (2) Any reference in this Act to any law which is not in force in any area shall, in relation to that area, be construed as a reference to the corresponding law, if any, in force in that area.