 the plantations labour (amend- ment) bill, 1960(as introduced in lok sabra on i sth fellru ary, 1960)  (as introduced in lok sabha) a billfurther to amend the plantations labour act, 1951 be it enacted by parliament in the eleventh year of the republic of indie as follows:-1 (1) this act may be called the plantations labour (amend- short tltlo and ~omment) act, 1960 mencement 5 (2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint 69 of 1951 2 in section 1 of the plantations labour act, 1951 (hereinruter amendreferred 'to as the principal act), for, sub-section (4), the following :~(l~f itc-sub-sections shall be substituted, namely:-10 "(4) it applies to the following plantations, that is to say,-(a) to any land used or intended to be used for growing tea, coffee, rubber or cinchona which admeasures 10117 hectares or more and in which thirty or more persons are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months; is 20 (b) to any land used or intended to be used for grow-- ing any other plant, which admeasures 10117 hectares or more and in which thirty or more persons are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months, if, after obtaining the approval of the central government, the state government, by notification in the official gazette, so directs (5) the state government may, by notification in the official gazette, declare that all or any of the provisions of this act shall apply also to any land used or intended to be used for growing any plant referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (4), notwithstanding that-(a) it admeasures less than 10117 hectares, or (b) the number of persons employed therein is less 5 than thirty: provided that no such declaration shall be made in respect of such land which admeasured less than 10117 hectares or in which less than thirty persons were employed, immediately before the commencement of this act" 10 3 in section 2 of the principal act,-amendment t4icctiod 2 (i) after clause (e), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-'(ee) "family", when used in relation to a worker, means-15 (i) his or her spouse, and (ii) the legitimate and adopted children of the worker dependent upon him or her, who have not completed their eighteenth year; and includes, where the worker is a male, his parents 20 dependent upon him;'; (ii) for clause (f), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-'(f) "plantation" means any plantation to which this act, whether wholly or in part, applles and includes offices, 25 hospitals, dispensaries, schools, and any other premises used for any purpose connected with such plantation, but does not include any factory on the premises to which the provisions of the factories act, 1948, apply;'; '3 of 1948 (iii) for clause (h), the following clause shall be substitu- 30 ted, namely:-'(h) "qualified medical practitioner" means a person holding a qualification granted by an authority specified or notified under section 3 of the indian medical degrees act, 1916, or specified in the schedules to the indian medical 357 of 1916 council act, 1956, and includes any person having a certi-102 of 195' ficate granted under any provincial or state medical council act;'; (iv) for clause (k), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-40 '(k) "worker" means a person employed in a plantation for hire or reward, whether directly or through any agency, to do any work, skilled, unskilled, manual or clerical, but does not include--(i) a medical officer employed in the plantation; s (ii) any person employed in the plantation (including any member of the medical staff) whose monthly wages exceed rupees three hundred; 10 (iii) any person employed in the plantation primarily in a managerial capacity, notwithstanding that his monthly wages do not exceed rupees three hundred; or (iv) any person temporarily employed in the plantation in any work relating to the construction, development or maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, drains or canals;" is 4 in section 10 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), after the ame1u!ment word "workers", the words "and their families" shall be inserted of letuan 10 5 in section 16 of the principal act, in clause (e), the words amendment "the definition of what constitutes the family of a worker for the of 8ection 16 purposes of section 15," shall be omitted 20 6 in section 30 of the principal act,-amendment of tiecdon 3<:' the following (i) in sub-section (1), after the proviso explanation shall be inserted, namely:-"explanation-for the purposes of calculating leave under this sub-section,-25 (a) any day on which no work or less than half a day's work is performed shall not be counted; and (b) any day on which half or more than half a day's work is performed shall be counted as one day"; (ii) after sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall 30 be inserted, nmnely:-" (4) if the employment of a worker who is entitled to leave under this section is terminated by the employer before he has taken the entire leave to which he is entitled, the employer shall pay him the amount payable under section 31 3s in respect of the leave not taken, and such payment shall be made before the expiry of the second working day after such termination" amen~mc:l'lt 7 in section 31 of the principal act for sub-section (1) the followof ccuon 31• ing sub-sections shall be substituted namely:-"(1) for the leave allowed to a worker under section 30 he shall be paid,-(a) if employed wholly on q time-rate basis, at the rate 5 of minimum daily wage fixed under any law or under the terms of any award agreement or contract of service, and (b) in other cases, incl~ding cases where he is, during the preceding twelve calendar months, paid partly on q timerate basis and partly on a piece-rate basis, at the rate of the 10 average daily wtige calculated over the preceding twelve calendar months erpzanation-for the purposes of clause (b) of sub-section (1), the average daily wage shall be computed on the basis of his total full-time earnings during the preceding twelve oolendar 15 months, exclusive of any over-time earnings or bonus, if any, but inclusive of dearness allowance (la) in addition to the wages for the leave period at the rates specified in sub-section (1), a worker shall also be paid the cash value of food and other concessions, if any, allowed to him 20 by the employer in addition to his daily wages unless these concessions are continued during the leave period" amendment 8 in section 42 of the principal act, after the words "such exempocaection42· tion", the words and figures "other than an exemption ,from section 19" shall be inserted  statement of objects and reasonsthe plantations labour act, 1951, which provides for the welfare of labour and regulates the conditions of work in plantations has been in operation since the 1st april, 1954 the act is applicable to gardens admeasuring twenty-five acres or more and whereon thirty or more persons are employed some 'employers are fragmenting their plantations into small units with a view to evading their liabilities under the act the amendments mentioned in the bill are proposed to check fragmentation of plantations and to ensure more effective working of the act 2 the reasons for the amendments are, wherever neceuary, given in the notes on clauses attached to the bill new delm; g l nanda the 9th december, 1959 clause 2- the revised sub-section (4) of section 1 combines the existing provisions of this sub-section and those of clause (f) of section 2 the amendment is of a drafting nature sub-section (5) is being added in section 1 to empower the state governments to apply all or any of the provisions of the act to any plantations less than 10117 hectares in area or employing less than 30 workers, subject to the condition that such of these plantations as were in existence before the commencement of the act will not be brought within its scope this sub-section thus seeks to check the fragmentation of plantations by employers into small wlits and to prevent the establishment of such small wlits in future with a view to by-passing the act clause 3-(i) it is considered necessary to define the term 'family' for the purposes of the act a new clause (ee) is, therefore, being added in section 2 (ii) the present definition of the term "plantation" in section 2 <f) is restricted to land where tea, coffee, etc, are grown and does not cover other places such as offices, hospitals, dispens:lries and schools where persons are employed in work connected with the plantations in one fonn or another the modified section 2 (f) read with the amendments propo~;ed in clause 2 will ensure that the benefits wlder the act will be available to all workers except those employed in factories which come within the purview of the factories act, 1948 (iii) clause (k) of section 2 is being amended to clarify that members of the medical staff (other than medical officers) whose wages are less than rs 300 pm are covered by the act, while persons who are temporarily employed in any work relating to the construction and maintenance of buildings, roads, etc, are not clause 4-employers are already providing medical facilities for families of workers the proposed amendment merely gives this a statutory effect clause 6-(i) it is not clear whether the expression 'work performed' appearing in sub-section (1) of section 30 includes days on which less than the normal day's work is performed or on which only attendance is put in the proposed "explanation" clarifies the position in this regard (ii) the existing section 30 does not provide for grant of leave due to a worker or wages in lieu of such leave in case his services are terminated by the employer the new sub-section (4) makes necessary provision on this account clause 7-the period over which the average daily wage should be calculated has oot been specified in section 31 (1) this has been causing difficulty in the calculation of wages for the leave period the proposed amendment seeks to remove this difficulty clause 8-under section 42, previous approval of the central government is necessary before state governments can exempt employers from any provision of the act section 19 restricts weekly hours of work to 54 for adults employers are finding it difficult to observe a 54-hour week in a rush period when tea leaves have to be plucked while in heavy fiush and coffee berries have to be picked before torrential rains can bring down the whole of the' ripening crop the restriction of weekly hours of work to 54 in such cases results in loss of crop to estates and loss of earnings to workers paid on piece rates the proposed amendment empowers state governments to exempt employers from section 19 in suitable cases without prior reference to the central government, which takes time shan dtle, cztent cciid-ldiiqcement and appucadon ixtrac'l's from tid: p1antations labour act, 1951 (69 of 1951) - - - 1 (1) this act may be called the plantations labour act, 1951 - - - - (4) it applies in the first instance to all tea, coffee, rubber and cinchona plantations, but any state government may, subject to the previous approval of the central government, by notification in the official gazette, apply it to any other class of plantations within that state ddidjtjoaa 2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- - - (f) uplantation" means any land used or intended to be used for growing tea, coffee, rubber, or cinchona 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, and in respect of any territory where the provisions of this act have been applied by notification under sub-section (4) of section 1 to any other class of plantations, means also any land used or intended to be used for growing the plant mentioned in such notification and whereon thirty or more persons are employed, or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months; - - - (h) uqualified medical practitioner" means a person having a certificate granted by an authority specified in the schedule to the indian medical degrees act, 1916, or in the schedules to the 7 of 1916 indian medical council act, 1933, and also persons having certi- 27 of 1933 ficates granted under the different state (provincial) med:ical council acts; - - - (k) uworker" means a person employed in a plantation for hire or reward, whether directly or through any agency; to do any work, skilled, unskilled, manual or clerical but does not include-(a) a medical officer at the plantation; (b) any person whose monthly wages exceed three hundred rupees; or ) - in a wages (c) a person employed:·di'll'p}4}ltation primarily managerial capacity n~~~~~ that his monthly do not exceed rupees three hundred;, \ } ",  ;:j "v - ':;~"'; ;c, ,'-•••• 1  •• t',,~'  ~ , , ' '  ,   -~ r 'i· ••          -              i:{:~rd~                                                        "                                                         ~ '                     provisions as to health t,                      '                                -     10 (1) in every plantation ther shall be provided and maintained medical so as to be readily awilable such medical facilities for the workers as fadude, may be prescribed by the state government                                   -                                                -                                                             -     16 the state government may make rules for the purpose of :"~~r to 1                                                                                                 u  eru ea giving effect to the provisions of section 15 and, in particular provid- relating to ing for-                                                                                                housing                                   -                                               -                                                            -             (e) the allotment to workers and their families of housing       accommodetion and of suitable strips of vacant land adjoining      such accommodation for the purpose of maintaining kitchen      gardens, the definition of what constitutes the family of a worker      for the purposes of section 15, and for the eviction of workers      and their familie~ from such accommodation;                                  -                                               -                                                             -     30 (1) every worker shall be allowed leave with wages for a annullleave number of days calculated at the rate of-                                                                                                with wi,ci      (a) if an adult, one day for every twenty days of work per-fonned by him, and      (b) if a young person, one day for every fifteen days of work perfonned by him:    provided that a period of leave shall be inclusive of any holiday which may occur during such periods                        -                                 -                                          -   31 (1) for the leave allowed to a worker under section 30 he wagd dur-shall be paid at the rate equal to the daily average of his total full- ing '!odeav~  time wages exclusive of any overtime earnings and bonus, if any, ~n  but inclusive of dearness allowance and the cash equivalent of any advantage accruing by the concessional supply by                                                     the employer of foodgrains for the day on which he worked                        -                                 -                                          - - - power to esempt - 42 the state goventment iruly, by order in writing, exempt, subject to such conditions and restrictions as it may think to impose, any employer or class of employers fr()m all or any of the provisions of this act: provided that no such~xemption shall be granted except with the previous approval of the central government ",'1 - - - ~; oj , - ~' - t i' ,'" : - f", e ;" j ii  ' , : j  - '~ 1 :!' '! ';      "                             i                                ; ~ , :) a bill further to amend the plantation') labour act, 1951 (shri gulzarilal nanda, minister of labour and employment) 