The Plantations Labour Act, 1951

(1) This Act may be called the PlantationsLabour Act, 1951. (2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir*. (3) It shall come into force on such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint 2[(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 3[, cinchona orcardamom] which admeasures 5[5 hectares] or more and in which 6[fifteen] or more persons areemployed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months; (b) to any land used or intended to be used for growing any other plant, which admeasures 4[5 hectares] or more and in which 5[fifteen] or more persons are employed or were employed on any dayof the preceding twelve months, if, after obtaining the approval of the Central Government, the StateGovernment, by notification in the Official Gazette, so directs. 6[Explanation.--Where any piece of land used for growing any plant referred to in clause (a) orclause (b) of this sub-section admeasures less than 5 hectares and is contiguous to any other piece of landnot being so used, but capable of being so used, and both such pieces of land are under the managementof the same employer, then, for the purposes of this sub-section, the piece of land first mentioned shall bedeemed to be a plantation, if the total area of both such pieces of land admeasures 4 hectares or more.] (5) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that all or any of theprovisions of this Act shall apply also to any land used or intended to be used for growing any plantreferred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (4), notwithstanding that-- (a) it admeasures less than 7[5 hectares], or (b) the number of persons employed therein is less than 8[fifteen]: Provided that no such declaration shall be made in respect of such land which admeasured less than7[5 hectares] or in which less than 8[fifteen] persons were employed, immediately before thecommencement of this Act.]

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "adolescent" means a person who has completed his 1[fourteenth] year but has not completedhis eighteenth year; (b) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth year; (c) "child" means a person who has not completed his 1[fourteenth] year; (d) "day" means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight; (e) "employer" when used in relation to a plantation, means the person who has the ultimatecontrol over the affairs of the plantation, and where the affairs of any plantation are entrusted to anyother person (whether called a managing agent, manager, superintendent or by any other name) suchother person shall be deemed to be the employer in relation to that plantation; 2[Explanation.--For the purposes of this clause, "the person who has the ultimate control over thethe affairs of the plantation" means in the case of a plantation owned or controlled by-- (i) a company, firm or other association of individuals, whether incorporated or not, everydirector, partner or individual; (ii) the Central Government or State Government or any local authority, the person or personsappointed to manage the affairs of the plantation; and (iii) a lessee, the lessee;] 3[(ee) "family", when used in relation to a worker, means-- (i) his or her spouse, and (ii) the legitimate and adopted children of the worker dependent upon him or her, who havenot completed their eighteenth year, 4[and includes parents and widow sister, dependent upon him or her;] 5[(eee) "inspector" means an inspector of plantations appointed under sub-section (1) of section 4and includes an additional inspector of plantations appointed under sub-section (1A) of that section;] 6[(f) "plantation" means any plantation to which this Act, whether wholly or in part, applies andincludes offices, hospitals, dispensaries, schools, and any other premises used for any purposeconnected with such plantation, but does not include any factory on the premises to which theprovisions of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948) apply;] (g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 7[(h) "qualified medical practitioner" means a person holding a qualification granted by anauthority specified or notified under section 3 of the Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 (7 of 1916),or specified in the Schedules to the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956), and includes anyperson having a certificate granted under any Provincial or State Medical Council Act; (i) "wages" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (h) of section 2 of the Minimum Wages Act,1948 (11 of 1948);] (j) "week" means a period of seven days beginning at mid-night on Saturday night or such othernight as may be fixed by the State Government in relation to plantations in any area after suchconsultation as may be prescribed with reference to the plantations concerned in that area; 8[(k) "worker" means a person employed in a plantation for hire or reward, whether directly orthrough any agency, to do any work, skilled, unskilled, manual or clerical 9[and includes a personemployed on contract for more than sixty days in a year], but does not include-- (i) a medical officer employed in the plantation; (ii) any person employed in the plantation (including any member of the medical staff) whosemonthly wages exceed 10[rupees ten thousand]; (iii) any person employed in the plantation primarily in a 11[managerial or administrativecapacity, notwithstanding that his monthly wages do not exceed ten thousand]; or (iv) any person temporarily employed in the plantation in any work relating to theconstruction, development or maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges, drains or canals;] (l) "young person" means a person who is either a child or an adolescent.

In this Act, references to time of day are references to Indian StandardTime being five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time: Provided that for any area in which the Indian Standard Time is not ordinarily observed, the StateGovernment may make rules-- (a) specifying the area; (b) defining the local mean time ordinarily observed therein; and (c) permitting such time to be observed in all or any of the plantations situated in that area.

1[3A. Appointment of registering officers.--The State Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette,-- (a) appoint such persons, being Gazetted Officers of Government, as it thinks fit, to be registeringofficers for the purposes of this Chapter, and (b) define the limits within which a registering officer shall exercise the powers and discharge thefunctions conferred or imposed on him by or under this Chapter.]

1[3B. Registration of plantations.--(1) Every employer of a plantation, existing at the commencementof the Plantation Labour (Amendment) Act, 1981 (58 of 1981) shall, within a period of sixty days of suchcommencement, and every employer of any other plantation coming into existence after suchcommencement shall, within a period of sixty days of the coming into existence of such plantation, makean application to the registering officer for the registration of such plantation: Provided that the registering officer may entertain any such application after the expiry of the periodaforesaid if he is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from making theapplication within such period. (2) Every application made under sub-section (1) shall be in such form and shall contain suchparticulars and shall be accompanied by such fees as may be prescribed. (3) After the receipt of an application under sub-section (1), the registering officer shall register theplantation. (4) Where a plantation is registered under this section, the registering officer shall issue a certificateof registration to the employer thereof in such form as may be prescribed. (5) Where, after the registration of a plantation under this section, any change occurs in the ownershipor management or in the extent of the area or other prescribed particulars in respect of such plantation, theparticulars regarding such change shall be intimated by the employer to the registering officer withinthirty days of such change in such form as may be prescribed. (6) Where as a result of any intimation received under sub-section (5), the registering officer issatisfied that the plantation is no longer required to be registered under this section, he shall, by order inwriting, cancel the registration thereof and shall, as soon as practicable, cause such order to be publishedin any one newspaper in the language of, and having circulation in, the area where the plantation issituated.]