Minimum-Wages-Maharashtra 1st Jan 2016 to 30th June 2016-english
Maharashtra Minimum wages Revision from 1st Jan 2016 till 30th Jan 2016( English Version)
FACTORIES ACT AS AMENDED BY MAHARASHTRA GOVERNMENT
| Particulars | Prior to Amendment | Post Amendment | Remarks |
| Section 2(m) definition of term ‘Factory’ | Term ‘Factory’ has been defined to mean premises where:
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Factory means premises where:
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Pursuant to this amendment, the State Government is empowered to classify any premises as ‘Factory’ even when:
Conversely, pursuant to this amendment, the State Government is also empowered, to issue a notification, and thereby not classify any premises as ‘Factory’ even if:
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| Section 65(2) (Power to make exempting orders) | The State Government or the Chief Inspector were empowered to exempt any or all adult workers of any factory or group/class of factories from compliance of any or all Sections 51(Weekly hours), 52 (Weekly holidays), 54(Daily hours), 56(Spread over).
This exemption was made available to enable the factory or factories to deal with an exceptional press of work. For this purpose, the State Government or the Chief Inspector had to pass a written order stipulating the conditions for exemption. |
In order to deal with exceptional press of work, any or all adult workers of the factories shall be exempted from compliance of any or all Sections 51(Weekly hours), 52 (Weekly holidays), 54(Daily hours), 56(Spread over).
The terms and conditions for aforesaid exemption shall be prescribed in the rules. |
Pursuant to this amendment, the terms and conditions for availing exemption from compliance under Sections 51(Weekly hours), 52 (Weekly holidays), 54(Daily hours), 56(Spread over)would be prescribed under Maharashtra Factories Rules, 1963.
Thus the need to approach authorities under the Principal Act for exemptions has been done away and instead the terms and conditions for the exemption will be prescribed in the rules. Note: At present the rules for the exemption have not been notified. Once the State Government notifies the rules, it would become clear as to when and under what circumstances the factory would be exempted from compliance with aforesaid provisions of Principal Act. |
| Section 65(3)(iv) (Power to make exempting orders) | The exemption granted under Section 65(2) is subject to certain conditions set out in Section 65(3). One of the conditions is that no worker shall work overtime for more than 7 days at a stretch and the total overtime hours shall not exceed 75 hours in any quarter. | The limit of overtime hours has been increased from 75 hours to 115 hours per quarter. | The overall exemption/relaxation with respect to overtime hours that a factory can avail for dealing with exceptional press of work shall not exceed 115 hours per quarter. |
| Section 66(1)(b) proviso (Further restrictions on employment of women) | Section 66(1) amongst others restricted women employees to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 A.M. to 7 P.M.
However, the State Government may, by a notification in the Official Gazette, vary these limits to the extent that no woman shall be employed in factory between the hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
The women workers are now allowed to work even between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in any factory in which prescribed adequate safety and security measures or safeguards are provided. | Women workers are now allowed to work in night shift provided the prescribed rules as to their safety and safeguards is adequately provided.
Note: At present the rules for adequate safety and safeguard of women employees have not been provided in the Maharashtra Factories Rules 1963. |
| Section 79(1) (Annual leave with wages) | In order to be eligible for leave with wages, every worker was required to work in a factory for 240 days or more during a calendar year. | The requirement of working 240 days has now been reduced to 90 days.
Similar change has been incorporated inExplanation 1 which deals with computation of the period of 240 days. |
Now workers will become eligible for leaves with wages in the subsequent year if they work for 90 or more days in a calendar year. |
| Section 85(1)(i) (Power to apply the act to certain premises) | Pursuant to this section the State Government may notify applicability of any or all provisions of the Principal Act on any premises where manufacturing process is carried on:
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The State Government may notify applicability of any or all provisions of the Principal Act on any premises where manufacturing process is carried on:
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This amendment is in lines with the amendment carried out in the definition of the term ‘Factory’ under Section 2(m) of the Principal Act. |
| Section 92A (Compounding of certain offences) and Fourth Schedule | – | A new Section has been introduced pursuant to which offences set out in the Fourth Schedule (new schedule) may be compounded before the institution of prosecution.
The offences shall be compounded by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Chief Inspector. The amount of fine shall not be more than Rupees one lakh as mentioned in Section 92 of the Principal Act. Once the offence set out in the Fourth Schedule is compounded no further proceedings shall be taken against the offender in respect of the offence. |
The Fourth Schedule sets out 33 non-compliances under the Principal Act which can be compounded prior to initiation of the prosecution. |
| Section 105 (1) (Cognizance of offences) | Court will take cognizance of any offence upon complaint by or written sanction of an Inspector. | Court will take cognizance of any offence upon complaint by or written sanction of a Chief Inspector. | The process of investigation into any offence under the Principal Act and subsequent prosecution for the same can start only upon complaint made/sanction given by Chief Inspector of Factories. |
Interest on provident fund deposits likely to increase to 9% on February 16
Necessary Circular is appended below
CBT Meeting Circular in regards to Interest Rate 2015-2016
@Courtesy http://www.dnaindia.com/money
Maharashtra Special Allowance 1st Jan 2016 to 30th June 2016
Maharashtra Special allowance has been declared from 1st Jan 2016 to
30th Jun 2016 I am enclosing herewith the Local Language Copy by tomorrow I will upload the English Version with breakup of the same.
Maharashtra Special Allowance Marathi 1st Jan 2016 to 30th June 2016
Implementation of ESI Scheme in Peripheral areas of Karnataka W.E.F 1st Jan 2016
Implementation of ESI Scheme in new geographical areas of revenue in Andhra Pradesh W,E,F 1st Jan 2016
implementation of ESI Scheme in new geographical areas of Andaman from 1st January, 2016
Implementation of ESI Scheme in Punjab. in some distrct W.E.F from 1st Jan 2016
Respective Notification as enclosed
mplementation of ESI Scheme in Punjab
Draft Model Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services) Act 2015- High lights
PMO seeks welfare coverage for construction labour
Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal has also written to state governments to seek their co-operation in the endeavour.
The biggest challenge in bringing millions of India’s construction workers under various welfare schemes is the seasonal and migrant nature of their job.
Semi-skilled
Most workers in the construction sector are semi-skilled or unskilled and work at sites across the country for spells of a few months at a time. With low literacy levels, they are also prone to benefit cheating by employers or contractors they work with.
Cess collections
Every state collects cess on the cost of construction incurred by employers to form a fund to be utilised for welfare of construction workers.
Of the total cess of Rs 16,214 crore collected till December 2014, only Rs 2,859 crore, or a little over 17 per cent, has been spent as most states have failed to design any schemes to deploy these funds.
“The matter (of covering construction workers) is being monitored at the highest level in government and this is an area flagged as one of utmost concern,” according to a note sent to all provident fund commissioners last week.
“Thus it becomes imperative that this work is accorded top priority and taken up in right earnest, duly engaging all the stakeholders, including various trade unions and industry bodies,” Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (Compliance) Gautam Dixit wrote in the missive.
UAN portal
To counter the issue of frequent changes in employer and location, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO has decided to register construction workers on the Universal Account Number (UAN) portal, thereby allocating them a universal number for easy transfer of PF funds while switching jobs.
The regional commissioners have been requested to organise meetings with public sector units, trade unions and visit big construction sites. The EPFO has also asked them to hold meetings with state labour departments and to get in touch with the State Building and Construction Workers Board constituted by states to get the database of construction workers.
The PF office has sought an action taken report from all the regional PF commissioners within seven days on the issue.
Pls refer to the necessary circular as issued by the Central Epf Office to All SRO & Regional Office.
C3_Coverage_ConstructionWkrs_22072
@Courtesy http://www.thehindu.com/business/
