West Bengal Tea Plantation Employees' Welfare Fund Act, 2015
No: 23 Dated: Aug, 11 2015
THE WEST BENGAL TEA PLANTATION EMPLOYEES' WELFARE FUND ACT, 2015
West Bengal Act XXIII of 2015
An Act to make provision for the constitution of a fund for promoting activities connected with the welfare of the employees employed in tea Plantation in West Bengal and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.
Whereas it is expedient to constitute a fund for promoting activities connected with the welfare of the employees employed in tea Plantation in West Bengal and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted in-the Sixty-sixth Year of the Republic of India, by the Legislature of the State of West Bengal, as follows :-
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Tea Plantation Employees' Welfare Fund Act, 2015.
(2) It extends to the five districts of the State of West Bengal viz. Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur and Coochbehar.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify.
2. Definitions.. - In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) "Board" means the West Bengal Tea Plantation Employees Welfare Board constituted under section 4;
(2) "employer" when used in relation to a Tea Plantation means the person who has the ultimate-control over the affairs of the Tea plantations, and where the affairs of any Tea plantation are entrusted to any other person (whether called a managing agent, manager, superintendent, or by any other name) such other person shall he deemed to be the employer in relation to that plantation;
Explanation. - For the purposes of this clause, "the person who has the ultimate control over the affairs of the Tea plantation" means in the case of a Tea plantation owned or controlled by a company, firm or other association of individuals, whether incorporated or not, every director, partner or individual.
(3) "employee" means any person who is employed (including apprentice) to do any skilled or unskilled, manual or clerical work in or in connection with a Tea plantation including its local head office, office, factory, workshop, school or hospital and who gets his wages directly or indirectly from the employer, but does not include a person whose total wages exceed Rs. 10,000/-(Rupees ten thousand) per mensem inclusive of dearness allowance and value of food concession, or a person working under a contractor in work not directly connected with cultivation and manufacture of tea;
(4) "Inspector" means the person appointed in this behalf by the State Government, by order;
(5) "Plantation" means any land used or intended to he used for growing tea which admeasures twenty-five acres or more and whereon thirty or more persons are employed, or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months;
(6) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(7) "Soft loan" means loans that have lower interest rates than conventional bank loans.
3. Plantation Welfare Fund. - (1) The State Government shall constitute a fund to be called the "Tea Plantation Employees' Welfare Fund" for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The fund shall consist of-
(a) any voluntary donation;
(b) any loan, grant-in-aid or subsidy paid by the Central or State Government or any local authority or Tea Board;
(c) any sum paid by the Central Government or the State Government or any local authority for implementation of any scheme for the welfare of labour not employed in any establishment;
(d) any sum borrowed under section 11.
(3) The sums specified in clause (a) of sub-section (2) shall he paid or collected by such agencies, at such intervals and in such manner as may he prescribed.
(4) Subject to the provisions of the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 and the rules made thereunder, the Governor of West Bengal may entrust the audit of the accounts of the Board to the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
(5) The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or any other person appointed by him in this behalf shall have the same rights, privileges and authority in connection with such audit as the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has in connection with the audit of the Government accounts.
(6) The accounts of the Board as certified by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or any other person appointed by him in this behalf together with the Audit Report and the Audit Certificate thereon shall be forwarded to the State Government and the State Government shall cause the same to be laid, as soon as may be after it is received, before the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.