Labour Ministry's new rule to ensure employer hiring contract labour files unified annual return
NEW DELHI: In yet another initiative towards improving the ease of doing business in the country, Bandaru Dattatreya-led labour ministry has notified draft rule that would allow principal employer or contractor hiring contract labour to file a unified annual return under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970.
Under the rules, to be called as the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Central (Amendment) Rules, 2017, every contractor or principal employer shall upload a unified annual return in the Form XXIV specified in these rules on or before the February 1 following the close of the year to which it relates. The draft rules expires on April 14, 2017 after which the said rules will apply from the date of notification in the absence of any objections raised.
Besides, the employer or the principal contractor qalso have the option of filing the return manually or online. The principal employer or contractor shall also file a Unified Annual Return to the concerned authorities manually. In case, if, an employer maintains registers or records or reports in electronic form, such registers or records or reports shall also be taken into consideration," the draft notification of the labour ministry said.
Both the government and the corporate sector employ a large number of contract workers. Contract labour accounts for 55% of public sector jobs and 45% of those in the private sector. Only about 300,000 contract labourers out of an estimated 80 million are employed in the organised sector.
Under the rules, to be called as the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Central (Amendment) Rules, 2017, every contractor or principal employer shall upload a unified annual return in the Form XXIV specified in these rules on or before the February 1 following the close of the year to which it relates. The draft rules expires on April 14, 2017 after which the said rules will apply from the date of notification in the absence of any objections raised.
Besides, the employer or the principal contractor qalso have the option of filing the return manually or online. The principal employer or contractor shall also file a Unified Annual Return to the concerned authorities manually. In case, if, an employer maintains registers or records or reports in electronic form, such registers or records or reports shall also be taken into consideration," the draft notification of the labour ministry said.
Both the government and the corporate sector employ a large number of contract workers. Contract labour accounts for 55% of public sector jobs and 45% of those in the private sector. Only about 300,000 contract labourers out of an estimated 80 million are employed in the organised sector.
