The bench asked why workers are not being paid from the cess when construction activities are halted. (Archive)The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the Centre and Delhi government why funds collected for the welfare of construction workers in the capital are not being used to pay their daily wages when construction activities are stopped.
“You (Centre and state governments) stop or ban construction activity and the labourers are left without work. You have collected thousands of crores as building cess, but you don’t give a penny out of it to labourers who are starving,” a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani told the government counsels.
It further orally observed, “Why should the state and the central government be not fastened with the liability? What are you doing with all that money? Both the central government and the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi have to answer.”
The bench also asked the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board why funds collected under the BOCW (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and the BOCW Welfare Cess Act, 1996, cannot be used to pay labourers who are deprived of daily wages when construction activity is stopped on government or court orders.
It asked the Central Pollution Control Board and Environment Protection (Prevention and Control) Authority for Delhi-NCR, to indicate their stand on the issue by August 6.
The court’s order came after the BOCW Board told the bench that it cannot give any relief to unregistered workers from the funds collected, as it is not provided under the statute. The Board also said the statutes did not provide for paying daily wages to idle workers.
The Board was responding to a PIL filed by labour welfare activist Saurabh Bhatnagar, who sought framing of welfare schemes or policies to provide financial security in the form of daily wages, at minimum wage rates, to all construction workers in Delhi when construction activities are banned/halted/limited by the authorities.
