Sohair Shamim Wani
The amendment in the Labour Welfare Fund brought in force on 11th August, 2021 by the Labour and Employment Department of Gujarat omitted the Rule 3AA sub-clause 1(a) that states that “Every employer of an establishment shall maintain and preserve for a period of ten years – a register of wages in Form-A, except in case where the employer maintain muster roll-cum Wages register under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and the rules made then under.”[1]
About Labour Welfare Fund
Labour welfare fund is a kind of help in the form of monetary and essentials aid to the labourers so that they can be provided with better working circumstances, social security and, raise their standard of living. For this purpose, various states have separately enacted acts and rules exclusively focusing on the welfare of labourers. However, it is a sad reality that only 16 states and union territories out of 37 have taken these measures and implemented them.
The aforementioned amendment has been made as there had been many legislations approving to maintain records in electronic form under Labour Laws and Rules, for example Section 4 of IT Act 2000, (Legal recognition of electronic records) and the ease of compliance to maintain registers under various laws (Gujarat) rules, 2017 which itself is in compliance with the application of same central rules. These rules state that they intend to provide such combined registers (electronically) to sub-serve and facilitate ease of compliance, maintenance and, inspection. Moreover, this will also make the information provided there to be easily accessible to the public through electronic means, thereby increasing transparency.
The ease of compliance to maintain registers is an excellent decision as in addition to combined registers, it helps in avoiding duplication of files and prevents underhand corruption that labourer’s suffer at the hands of peons or attendants of labour departments due to their lack of literacy.
Furthermore, it is also pertinent to note that Labour Welfare Fund (Gujarat) (Amendment) Rules, 2021 does not totally prevent employers to keep physical records but it exempts the liability of preserving physical records/register of wages in Form ‘A’ for 10 years as stated in rule 3AA sub-clause 1(a). As these registers are made electronically available to the public and once published online, they are automatically preserved.
Moreover, it is important to know that in 3AA of the Labour Welfare Fund (Gujarat) Rules, 1962.
(1) Every employers of an establishments shall maintain and preserve for a period of ten years. —
(b) a consolidated register in Form B in respect of unclaimed wages and fines, and
(c) a register in Form C showing the particulars of employees in whose respect the unpaid accumulations are held by him.
These above-mentioned rules were not amended as they both deal with ‘unclaimed wages’ and therefore every employer must preserve these records for 10 years.
[1] Notification No:- KHR/2021/106/GWB/122021/7942 1/M(2)
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