Centre bats for Games workers

The Centre on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that they have filed cases against 866 people, including contractors, for violating labour law at Commonwealth Games project sites. HT reports

The Centre on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that they have filed cases against 866 people, including contractors, for violating labour law at Commonwealth Games project sites.

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Of 866, 282 have been convicted. Other cases are still pending. The total amount of fine imposed between January 2008 and June 2010 is Rs 13,52,000.

The maximum offences are under Minimum Wages Act (653) while those under Building and Other Construction Workers Act and Central Labour Act were 232 and 216 respectively.

These facts were revealed to the court by lawyer Sanjeev Sachdeva through an affidavit submitted before Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan. The court asked the Centre to keep up the heat on contractors. “Deal strictly with the contractors,” the Bench told Sachdeva.

Earlier, the standing counsel for the government, Najmi Waziri, said many labourers were not complaining of labour law violations as they were too afraid of contractors.

Sachdeva told the court that a strict watch is being kept on violation of labour laws, Minimum Wages Act and Building and Other Construction Workers Act at Games sites.