Capital Motors Ltd. is a sizable manufacturing facility in Lucknow that produces a lot of automobile parts like OEMs and others. The Mukesh Manpower Solutions' headed by Mukesh, a Jharkhand based unregistered labour cont

CS Professional · Labour Laws and Practice · PYQS · June 2026
Capital Motors Ltd. is a sizable manufacturing facility in Lucknow that produces a lot of automobile parts like OEMs and others. The Mukesh Manpower Solutions' headed by Mukesh, a Jharkhand based unregistered labour contractor, hired approximate 100 unskilled workers mostly from Jharkhand's underprivileged communities with the promise of high-paying moulding and refined raw material work at the Capital Motors factory in Lucknow, 10 months ago. He promised them a daily salary of ₹ 600, free lodging, and a round-trip train ticket. After reaching Lucknow, the reality was starkly different. The workers were housed in makeshift, unventilated tin sheds lacking basic sanitation, clean drinking water, clean floor, etc. Their daily wage was reduced to ₹ 200 significantly lower than the local minimum wage of ₹ 500 paid to native automobile companies in Lucknow. Furthermore, the contractor confiscated their Aadhaar cards and voter IDs for safekeeping and restricted them from leaving the worksite. When the workers demanded their promised wages and the statutory inter-state allowances to send money back to their families, Capital Motors denied any responsibility, claiming the workers were not their direct employees but rather "independent sub-contractees" of Mukesh Manpower Solutions. Capital Motors Ltd. also claimed they had no legal obligation to register these workers since the contractor was unregistered. An NGO, "Shramik Adhikar Seva," discovered the workers' living conditions and filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) under Article 32 of the Constitution of India directly before the Supreme Court, naming both Capital Motors Ltd. and the Contractor, as respondents. Answer the following questions (a, b), keeping in view the above scenario : Does the lack of registration of labour contractor nullify the principal employer's statutory duties towards inter-state migrant workers ? Enumerate the facilities that must be provided by the employer to the inter-state migrant workers under Section 60 & 61 of The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020?

Answer & Explanation:

No, the principal employer cannot evade statutory obligations towards the inter-state migrant labourers by citing the unregistered status of the intermediary labour contractor. If the contractor fails to provide the statutory obligation to the inter-state migrant workers even though they are on contract basis, it is the duty of the principal employer to provide those obligations to all inter-state migrant workers. Such as Canteen, Food, Shelter all basic amenities and wages. Facilities to Inter-State Migrant Workers (Section 60 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020) It shall be the duty of every contractor or the employer, of an establishment employing inter-State migrant workers in connection with the work of that establishment- to ensure suitable conditions of work to such worker having regard to the fact that he is required to work in a State different from his own State; in case of fatal accident or serious bodily injury to any such worker, to report to the specified authorities of both the States and also the next of kin of the worker; to extend all benefits to such worker which are available to a worker of that establishment including benefits under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 or the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 or any other law for the time being in force and the facility of medical check-up as available to a worker under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 6. Journey Allowance (Section 61 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020) The employer shall pay, to every inter-State migrant worker employed in his establishment, in a year a lump sum amount of fare for to and fro journey to his native place from the place of his employment, in the manner taking into account the minimum service for entitlement, periodicity and class of travel and such other matters as may be prescribed by the Appropriate Government.

Topics: Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

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