Complaint to be filed before CJM or MM within one month Under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948
22. Penalties for certain offences
Any employer who-
(a) pays to any employee less than the minimum rates of wages fixed for that employee’s class of work, or less than the amount due to him under the provisions of this Act, or
(b) contravenes any rule or order made under section 13, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both:
Provided that in imposing any fine for an offence under this section, the Court shall take into consideration the amount of any compensation already awarded against the accused in any proceedings taken under section 20.
22-A. General provision for punishment of other offences
Any employer who contravenes any provision of this Act or of any rule or order made thereunder shall, if no other penalty is provided for such contravention by this Act, be punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
22-B. Cognizance of offences
(1) No Court shall take cognizance of a complaint against any person for an offence-
(a) under clause (a) of section 22 unless an application in respect of the facts constituting such offence has been presented under section 20 and has been granted wholly or in part, and the appropriate Government or an officer authorised by it in this behalf has sanctioned the making of the complaint;
(b) under clause (b) of section 22 or under section 22-A, except on a complaint made by, or with the sanction of, an Inspector.
(2) No Court shall take cognizance of an offence-
(a) under clause (a) or clause (b) of section 22, unless complaint thereof is made within one month of the grant of sanction under this section;
(b) under section 22-A, unless complaint thereof is made within six months of the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.
22-C. Offences by companies
(1) If the person committing any offence under this Act is a company, every person who at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company as well as the company shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly:
Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall render any such person liable to any punishment provided in this Act if he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission of such offence.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an offence under this Act has been committed by a company and it is proved that the offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, shall also be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Explanation .-For the purposes of this section,-
(a) “company” means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals, and
(b) “director” in relation to a firm means a partner in the firm.
22-D. Payment of undisbursed amounts due to employees
All amounts payable by an employer to an employee as the amount of minimum wages of the employee under this Act or otherwise due to the employee under this Act or any rule or order made thereunder shall, if such amounts could not or cannot be paid to the employee on account of his death before payment or on account of his whereabouts not being known, be deposited with the prescribed authority who shall deal with the money so deposited in such manner as may be prescribed.
22-E. Protection against attachment of assets of employer with Government
Any amount deposited with the appropriate Government by an employer to secure the due performance of a contract with that Government and any other amount due to such employer from that Government in respect of such contract shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any Court in respect of any debt or liability incurred by the employer other than any debt or liability incurred by the employer towards any employee employed in connection with the contract aforesaid.
22-F. Application of Payment of Wages Act, 1936, to scheduled employments
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936), the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that, subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), all or any of the provisions of the said Act shall, with such modifications, if any, as may be specified in the notification, apply to wages payable to employees in such scheduled employments as may be specified in the notification.
(2) Where all or any of the provisions of the said Act are applied to wages payable to employees in any scheduled employment under sub-section (1), the Inspector appointed under this Act shall be deemed to be the Inspector for the purpose of enforcement of the provisions so applied within the local limits of his jurisdiction.
23. Exemption of employer from liability in certain cases
Where an employer is charged with an offence against this Act, he shall be entitled, upon complaint duly made by him, to have any other person whom he charges as the actual offender, brought before the Court at the time appointed for hearing the charge; and if, after the commission of the offence has been proved, the employer proves to the satisfaction of the Court-
(a) that he has used due diligence to enforce the execution of this Act, and
(b) that the said other person committed the offence in question without his knowledge, consent or connivance, that other person shall be convicted of the offence and shall be liable to the like punishment as if he were the employer and the employer shall be discharged:
Provided that in seeking to prove, as aforesaid, the employer may be examined on oath, and the evidence of the employer or his witness, if any, shall be subject to cross-examination by or on behalf of the person whom the employer charges as the actual offender and by the prosecution.
“Employer” means any person who employs, whether directly or through another person, or whether on behalf of himself or any other person, one or more employees in any scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, and includes, except in sub-section (3) of section 26,–
(i) in a factory where there is carried on any scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, any person named under clause
(f) of sub-section (1) of section 7 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), as manager of the factory;
(ii) in any scheduled employment under the control of any Government in India in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, the person or authority appointed by such Government for the supervision and control of employees or where no person or authority is so appointed, the head of the department;
(iii) in any scheduled employment under any local authority in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, the person appointed by such authority for the supervision and control of employees or where no person is so appointed, the chief executive officer of the local authority;
(iv) in any other case where there is carried on any scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed under this Act, any person responsible to the owner for the supervision and control of the employees or for the payment of wages;
“Employee” means any person who is employed for hire or reward to do any work, skilled or unskilled, manual or clerical, in a scheduled employment in respect of which minimum rates of wages have been fixed;
and includes an out-worker to whom any articles or materials are given out by another person to be made up, cleaned, washed, altered, ornamented, finished, repaired, adapted or otherwise processed for sale for the purposes of the trade
or business of that other person where the process is to be carried out either in the home of the out-worker or in some other premises not being premises under the control and management of that other person;
and also includes an employee declared to be an employee by the appropriate Government;
but does not include any member of the Armed Forces of the Union.
Under the Payment Of Wages Act, 1936
20. Penalty for offences under the Act .-(1) Whoever being responsible for the payment of wages to an employed person contravenes any of the provisions of any of the following sections, namely, [section 5 except sub-section (4) thereof, section 7, section 8 except sub-section (8) thereof, section 9, section 10 except sub-section (2) thereof, and sections 11 to 13], both inclusive, shall be punishable [with fine which shall not be less than one thousand five hundred rupees but which may extend to seven thousand five hundred rupees].
(2) Whoever contravenes the provisions of section 4, [sub-section (4) of section 5, section 6, sub-section (8) of section 8, sub-section (2) of section 10 ]or section 25 shall be punishable [with fine which may extend to three thousand seven hundred fifty rupees].
[(2-A) Whoever being required to nominate or designate a person under section 3 fails to do so, such person shall be punishable with fine which may extend to three thousand rupees.]
[(3) Whoever being required under this Act to maintain any records or registers or to furnish any information or return-
(a) fails to maintain such register or record; or
(b) wilfully refuses or without lawful excuse neglects to furnish such information or return; or
(c) wilfully furnishes or causes to be furnished any information or return which he knows to be false; or
(d) refuses to answer or wilfully gives a false answer to any question necessary for obtaining any information required to be furnished under this Act, shall, for each such offence, be punishable ][with fine which shall not be less than one thousand five hundred rupees but which may extend to seven thousand five hundred rupees].
(4) Whoever-
(a) wilfully obstructs an Inspector in the discharge of his duties under this Act; or
(b) refuses or wilfully neglects to afford an Inspector any reasonable facility for making any entry, inspection, examination, supervision, or inquiry authorised by or under this Act in relation to any railway, factory or [industrial or other establishment]; or
(c) wilfully refuses to produce on the demand of an Inspector any register or other document kept in pursuance of this Act; or
(d) prevents or attempts to prevent or does anything which he has any reason to believe is likely to prevent any person from appearing before or being examined by an Inspector acting in pursuance of his duties under this Act, shall be punishable [with fine which shall not be less than one thousand five hundred rupees but which may extend to seven thousand five hundred rupees].
(5) If any person who has been convicted of any offence punishable under this Act is again guilty of an offence involving contravention of the same provision, he shall be punishable on a subsequent conviction with imprisonment for a term [which shall not be less than one month but which may extend to six months and ][with fine which shall not be less than one thousand five hundred rupees but which may extend to seven thousand five hundred rupees]:
Provided that for the purpose of this sub-section, no cognizance shall be taken of any conviction made more than two years before the date on which the commission of the offence which is being punished came to the knowledge of the Inspector.
(6) If any person fails or wilfully neglects to pay the wages of any employed person by the date fixed by the authority in this behalf, he shall, without prejudice to any other action that may be taken against him, be punishable with an additional fine which may extend to [seven hundred fifty rupees for each day for which such failure or neglect continues.]
21. Procedure in trial of offences .
(1) No Court shall take cognizance of a complaint against any person for an offence under sub-section (1) of section 20 unless an application in respect of the facts constituting the offence has been presented under section 15 and has been granted wholly or in part and the authority empowered under the latter section or the Appellate Court granting such application has sanctioned the making of the complaint.
(2) Before sanctioning the making of a complaint against any person for an offence under sub-section (1) of section 20, the authority empowered under section 15 or the Appellate Court, as the case may be, shall give such person an opportunity of showing cause against the granting of such sanction, and the sanction shall not be granted if such person satisfies the authority or Court that his default was due to-
(a) a bona fide error or bona fide dispute as to the amount payable to the employed person, or
(b) the occurrence of an emergency, or the existence of exceptional circumstances, such that the person responsible for the payment of the wages was unable, though exercising reasonable diligence, to make prompt payment, or
(c) the failure of the employed person to apply for or accept payment.
(3) No Court shall take cognizance of a contravention of section 4 or of section 6 or of a contravention of any rule made under section 26 except on a complaint made by or with the sanction of an Inspector under this Act.
[(3-A) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) of section 20 except on a complaint made by or with the sanction of an Inspector under this Act.]
(4) In imposing any fine for an offence under sub-section (1) of section 20, the Court shall take into consideration the amount of any compensation already awarded against the accused in any proceedings taken under section 15.
