An Act to amend the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Forty-fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

(1) This Act may be called the Beedi and Cigar Workers

(Conditions of Employment) Amendment Act, 1993.

(2) It shall come into force in a State on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed by the State Government for different areas and for different provisions of this Act.

In section 2 of the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966 (32 of 1966) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),—

(a) in clause (f),—

(i) in the opening paragraph, after the word “establishment”, the words “or go down” shall be inserted;

(ii) in sub-clause (ii) after the words “or contractor”, the words “or both” shall be inserted;

(b) after clause (h), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—

„(hh) “godown” means any warehouse or other place, by whatever name called, used for the storage of—

(i)any article or substance required for any manufacturing process; or

(ii) beedi or cigar or both;‟;

(c)in clause (i), the words “and includes a go down attached thereto” shall be added at the end.

7A.—(1) After section 7 of the principal Act, the following section shall be inserted, namely:—

“7A. Inspector not to disclose the source of any complaint, etc.—(1) No Inspector shall disclose the source of any complaint made to him regarding the contravention of any of the provisions of this Act.

(2) No Inspector shall, while making an inspection under this Act in pursuance of a complaint received by him, disclose to the employer or contractor concerned or any of this representatives that the inspection is being made in pursuance of a complain:

Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to any case in which the person the person who has made the complaint has consented to disclose his name.”.

In section 14 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the word “fifty”, the word “thirty” shall be substituted.

In section 18 of the principal Act, after sub-section (2), the following Explanation shall be inserted, namely:—

“Explanation.—Where an employee had not worked on any day of the week immediately preceding the week in which the overtime work has been done, any week preceding such week in which he had actually worked shall be taken into account in calculating the over-time rate for the purposes of this sub-section.”.

In section 21 of the principal Act, to sub-section (1), the following proviso shall be added, namely:—

“Provided that a copy of every such notice shall be sent to the Inspector having jurisdiction over the industrial premises within two weeks from the date on which such notice is exhibited in the industrial premises.”

In section 31 of the principal Act, after sub-section (2), the following sub-sub shall be inserted, namely:—

“(2A) The appellate authority shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), when trying suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:—

(a) enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; and

(b) compelling the production of documents and material objects.”.

In section 32 of the principal Act, for the words “three months” and “five hundred rupees”, the words “six months” and “five thousand rupees” shall, respectively, be substituted.

In this section 39 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), for the portion beginning with the words “shall be settled” and ending with the words “specify in this behalf”, the following shall be substituted, namely:—

“shall be referred for settlement within such time and by such authority as the State Government may, be rules, specify in this behalf and such rules may also provide for the summary manner in which such dispute shall be settled”.

In section 44 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), in clauses (w), for the words “authority by which and the manner in which a dispute as to the issue of raw materials shall be settled”, the words “the time within which a dispute specified in sub-section (2) of section 39 shall be referred for settlement, the authority by which and the summary manner in which such dispute shall be settled” shall be substituted.