NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has issued notices to more than 150 establishments asking them to provide statuary records of workers employed by them. These records will show whether a particular worker is registered with the government or not.
The notices were issued by the labour department after the intervention of the Delhi High Court while hearing a plea related to the financial benefits assured to such workers during the COVID-19 lockdown, filed by activist Sunil Kumar Aledia.
As per the guidelines, all contractors are bound to register their construction workers with the Building and Other Construction Welfare Board (BOCW). But many establishments were found to be flouting this rule. This gap in the system has created hurdles in the timely disbursal of the compensation announced by the government because scores of unregistered workers had to be registered first before releasing the amount.
"The notices have been issued to these establishments as per the direction of the High Court. Action will be taken against them if they do not respond," said Sanjay Ghosh, the lawyer representing the government.
As per the affidavit filed by the government, about 7,900 employers were contacted by the government in April this year and reminders were sent in June, to make them aware of their responsibility to register their workers and the consequences of non-compliance.
Delhi government has issued directions to all registering officers across the national capital to issue further communication to all registered employers for the same. Earlier this month, government opened four counters for physically filling up forms and uploading them online.
"The problem will not be fixed just by sending notices. Government needs to penalise such violations," said Shiven Verma, the lawyer representing the petitioner.
BOCW Board is a statutory body under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. The act says that every building worker shall register as a beneficiary to be able to claim the benefits. A worker is eligible for registration only if, inter-alia, he or she has been engaged in building or construction work for not less than 90 days in last 12 months.