NOTE ON THE BUILDING AND OTHER CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

Introduction

About 5.02 crore building and other construction workers are

estimated in India as per estimates of National Sample Survey (2011-
12). The building and other construction workers are one of the most
vulnerable segments of the unorganised sector workers in India. Their
work is of temporary nature, the relationship between employer and
employee is temporary, working hours are uncertain. The building and
other construction works are characterized by inherent risk to the life and
limb of workers. The construction workers are basically unskilled,
migrant, socially backward, uneducated with low bargaining power.
Provisions of labour laws like Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Workmen’s
Compensation Act, 1923; Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act,
1970; Inter-State Migrant Workmen (RECS) Act, 1979 etc. are
applicable to building and other construction workers. Building and
Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of
Service) Act, 1996 and Building and Other Construction Workers
Welfare Cess Act, 1996 have been enacted with a view to regularize the
wages, working conditions, safety and health, welfare measures, etc.,
exclusively for the building and other construction workers.

Salient Feature of the Building and Other Construction Workers

(Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1996:
 Building and Other Construction Workers (RECS) Act, 1996 and
Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996
have been enacted with a view to regulating the wages, working

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 conditions, safety and health, welfare measures, etc. exclusively
for the building and other construction workers.
 The Act applies to every establishment which employs 10 or more
workers.
 The major source of the fund to the Building and Other
Construction Workers Welfare Board is the collection of cess @1%
of the cost of construction incurred by the employer under the
Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996.
 The fund will be utilized for the immediate assistance in case of
workers accident, pension after age of 60 years, loans for the
purpose of construction of house, the premium for group insurance
scheme, assistance for education of children of beneficiaries,
medical expenses, maternity benefits to female, etc.
 The Central Government is the implementing agency in the Central
sphere while States are the implementing authority under State
sphere.

The Building and other Construction Workers (RECS) Central

Rules, 1998.
In order to carry out the provisions of 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 Building and other Construction Workers
(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Central Rules,
1998 were framed by the Government. The Central Rules defines and
stipulates the following:
I. Responsibilities and duties of employers, Architects, Project
Engineers and Designers, Building workers etc.;

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 II. Constitution of Central Advisory Committee;
III. Registration of Establishments
IV. Procedure for Appeal, payment of fees etc.;
V. Safety and Health measures etc.
The main responsibility for implementing the Acts lies with the
respective State Government.

Responsibilities of the State Governments

Under 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 States have
to frame and notify Rules, constitute Advisory Committees/Expert
Committees, appoint various authorities for registration of workers, cess
collection, Inspection and Appealing Authority and constitute State
Welfare Boards to frame and implement various welfare schemes in
pursuance of the said Acts.

Functions of the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare

Boards:

(a) provide immediate assistance to a beneficiary in case of accident

(b) make payment of pension to the beneficiaries who have completed
the age of sixty years
(c) sanction loans and advances to the beneficiary for construction of
a houses.
(d) pay premia for Group Insurance Scheme of the beneficiaries.
(e) give financial assistance for the education of children
(f) meet medical expenses for treatment of major ailments
(g) make payment of maternity benefit to the female beneficiaries; and

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(h) make provisions and improvement of such other welfare measures
and facilities as may be prescribed.

Central Advisory Committee under the Building and Other

Construction Workers (RECS) Act, 1996

As per Section 3 of the Building and Other Construction Workers

(Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, the
Central Government shall constitute a Central Advisory Committee
(CAC) to advise the Central Government on such matters arising out of
the administration of this Act as may be referred to it. Twenty meetings
of the Central Advisory Committee have been held so far. The last
Meeting was held on 15th February, 2018 in Guwahati.

Status of Implementation of the Act

As per the information received from the States, a statement

showing the number of workers registered with the Welfare Boards,
amount of cess collected and spent is annexed.

Initiatives taken by the Central Government for implementation of

the Act

The Central Government has taken the following steps for

implementation of the Acts:

 Building & Other Construction Workers Central Rules

including Safety Rules were framed in 1998. These Rules
were forwarded to State Governments to treat them as
Model Rules.
 Central Advisory Committee constituted initially constituted
on 30th June, 2000. Thereafter, it was re-constituted on 7th

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 October, 2005, 1st September, 2009 and 31st January, 2013.
The existing CAC was re-constituted on 9th May, 2017 for a
period of 3 years.
 Appointment of Director General (Inspection) was notified on
16.11.2005.
 Notification of Collection of Cess @ 1 per cent was issued
on 26.09.1996.
 In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 60 of the
BOCW Act, 1996 the Central Government has issued the
directions to State governments and State Building and
Other Construction Workers Welfare Boards as to the
carrying into execution of provisions of the Act on
27.09.2010, 12.07.2013, 27.02.2014, 04.03.2014,
16.10.2014, 05.08.2015, 09.09.2015, 23.09.2015,
08.10.2015, 07.06.2016, 06.07.2016 and 11.07.2017.

Status of the Amendments contemplated by the Government in the

Acts.
The Cabinet approved the proposal to carry out the amendments
in the Building and Other Construction Workers (RECS) Act, 1996 and
the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996.
Accordingly, the bill viz. THE BUILDING AND OTHER
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS REALTED LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL,
2013 was introduced in Rajya Sabha on 18th March, 2013. The Bill was
referred to the Standing Committee on Labour for examination and
report. The Committee, after deliberation with the Ministry and other
stakeholders, has presented its report to the Hon’ble Speaker, Lok
Sabha on 15th March, 2014. Thereafter, an Inter-ministerial Committee

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was constituted to examine the recommendations of the Standing
Committee. The reports of the Standing Committee and Inter-Ministerial
Committee were examined by a Working Group and their
recommendations are being incorporated in the proposed Codes on
Occupational Health, Safety & Working Conditions(OSH) and on Social
Security.

Monitoring by the Hon’ble Supreme Court

The status of implementation of the Building and Other Construction

Workers (RECS) Act, 1996 and the Building and Other Construction
Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996 is being monitored by the Hon’ble
Supreme Court in Writ petition No. 318 of 2006 filed by M/s National
Campaign Committee, C.L. (NCCL) V/s Union of India and others.

Further, the Central Government vide order dated 9th September, 2015,
constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Labour
and Employment) to monitor the implementation of directions issued
under Section 60 of the Act, specifically with reference to utilization of
Cess fund for Welfare Schemes enumerated under Section 22 of the
Act, by State/ UTs Welfare Board.

The Monitoring Committee held its meetings on 23rd November, 2015,

6th January, 2016, 6th April, 2016, 21st July, 2016, 20th December, 2016,
9th May, 2017, 29th August, 2017 and 12th December, 2017 with the
Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries, Labour department of State/ UTs.

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 Annexure-I

State-wise position of Number of Workers Registered, Cess Collected and Amount Spent
under the Building and Other Construction Workers Acts, 1996
As on 31.12.2017 (Provisional)
Sl. No. Name of the No. of workers Amount spent
Amount of cess
States/UTs. registered with (Rs. in Crore)
collected
the Board
(Rs. in Crore)
1 Andhra Pradesh 1,729,485 1543.38 412.66
2 Arunachal Pradesh 30,841 120.36 51.6
3 Assam 116,021 695.97 167.2
4 Bihar 828,451 1181.86 144.71
5 Chhattisgarh 1,378,267 871.15 684.5
6 Goa 3,458 120.3 1.07
7 Gujarat 598,686 1844.61 139.47
8 Haryana 730,562 2050.18 227.49
9 Himachal Pradesh 125,793 383.79 72.36
10 J&K 317,608 534.027 243.61
11 Jharkhand 710,967 374.79 183.08
12 Karnataka 1,155,521 4374.56 328.57
13 Kerala 1,464,621 1535.86 1579.9
14 Madhya Pradesh 2,919,105 2252.19 1046.51
15 Maharashtra 664,138 5685.33 385.45
16 Manipur 118,332 89.19 10.99
17 Meghalaya 22,879 117.22 2.37
18 Mizoram 21,865 40.37 21.95
19 Nagaland 10,837 38.27 8.98
20 Odisha 1,845,406 1170 404
21 Punjab 635,516 1067.37 496.76
22 Rajasthan 1,813,866 1726.76 674.15
23 Sikkim 35,125 98.13 25
24 Tamil Nadu 2,791,034 2251.25 727.41
25 Telangana 1,023,263 769.03 135.27
26 Tripura 93,636 156.08 20.58
27 Uttar Pradesh 3,607,498 3368.72 799.29
28 Uttarakhand 163,610 170.41 31.21
29 West Bengal 3,080,323 1638.77 868.83
30 Delhi 501,814 2547.94 151.57
31 A & N Island 14,166 53.34 6.99

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32 Chandigarh 18,593 106.94 5.01
33 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 2,176 29.61 0
34 Daman and Diu 919 37.17 0.54
35 Lakshadweep 179 7.24 0
36 Puducherry 41,224 100.16 63.92
Total 28,615,785 39152.327 10123

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