Welfare of construction workers: SC seeks report from states

The Supreme Court on Monday asked state governments to place before it the compliance report on implementation...

The Supreme Court on Monday asked state governments to place before it the compliance report on implementation of laws for constitution of welfare boards to monitor social security schemes and welfare measures for building and construction workers. A Bench, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, granted six weeks to the states to file their response and posted the matter for further hearing in August.

Despite notices issued by the Supreme Court in 2006 to seek implementation of laws and welfare measures, framed for construction workers a decade ago, majority of the states have failed to furnish their compliance reports. The court asked those states which had not replied to the notice issued in 2006 to file their counter affidavit to the petition pointing out non-implementation of the Building and other Construction Workers Regulations of Employment and Condition of Service Act, 1996, and the Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996.

A PIL filed by an NGO, National Campaign Committee for Central Legislation on Construction Labour, alleged that despite the law being there for 10 years, neither the Centre nor the state governments have implemented the law in letter and spirit.

Perusing the office report, the Bench, also comprising Justices R V Raveendran and M K Sharma, noted that states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Haryana have not responded to the notice. Among the Union Territories, Daman and Diu, NCT of Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Pondicherry, Lakshadweep and Chandigarh had not filed their response.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the NGO, submitted that as construction is India8217;s second largest industry, where workers are prone to accidents, the constitution of welfare boards, as per the Act, was mandatory as only then the social security schemes and welfare measures could be implemented. The NGO has sought a direction for constituting an expert committee to advise on matters relating to framing of rules under the Act.