The Coal Mines Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1948

1[(1) This Act may be called the Coal Mines Provident Fund andMiscellaneous Provisions Act 1948]. 2[(2) It extends to the whole of India 3* * *.

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-- (a) "bonus" means any sum of money payable to an 1[employee] under the Coal Mines BonusScheme framed under this Act; 2[(aa) "coal" includes lignite;] 3[(b) "coal mine" means any excavation where any operation for the purpose of searching for orobtaining coal has been or is being carried on, and includes-- (i) all borings and bore holes; (ii) all shafts, in or adjacent to and belonging to a coal mine, whether in the course of beingsunk or not; (iii) all levels and inclined planes in the course of being driven; (iv) any open cast working or quarry, that is to say, an excavation where any operation for thepurpose of searching for or obtaining coal has been or is being carried on, not being a shaft or anexcavation which extends below superjacent ground; (v) all conveyors or aerial rope-ways provided for the bringing into or removal from a coalmine of coal or other articles or for the removal of refuse therefrom; (vi) all adits, levels, planes, machinery, works, railways, tramways and sidings, in or adjacentto and belonging to a coal mine; (vii) all workshops situated within the precincts of a coal mine and under the samemanagement and used for purposes connected with that coal mine or a number of coal minesunder the same management; (viii) any office of a coal mine; (ix) all power stations for supplying electricity for the purpose of working the coal mine or anumber of coal mines under the same management; (x) any premises for the time being used for depositing refuse from a coal mine, or in whichany operation in connection with such refuse is being carried on, being premises exclusivelyoccupied by the employer of the coal mine; (xi) all hospitals and canteens maintained for the benefit of the employees of a coal mine or anumber of coal mines under the same management; (xii) any coke oven or plant; (xiii) any premises in or adjacent to and belonging to a coal mine, on which any plant or othermachinery connected with a coal mine is situated or on which any process ancillary to the workof a coal mine is being carried on;] (c) "contribution" means the contribution payable in respect of a member under the Coal MinesProvident Fund Scheme framed under this Act of 4[or the contribution payable in respect of anemployee to whom the Insurance Scheme applies]; 5[(d) "employee" means any person who is employed for wages in any kind of work, manual orotherwise, in or in connection with a coal mine, and who gets his wages directly or indirectly from theemployer, and includes-- (1) any person employed by or through a contractor in or in connection with a coal mine, and (2) for the purposes of the Coal Mines Provident Fund Scheme, also (i) any other person who is employed as a sanitary worker, mali, teacher or domesticservant in or in connection with a coal mine and who receives wages directly from theemployer, and (ii) any apprentice or trainee who receives stipend or other remuneration from theemployer.] 6[(e) "employer", when used in relation to a coal mine, means any person who is the immediateproprietor or lessee or occupier of the coal mine or of any part thereof and in the case of a coal minethe business whereof is being carried on by a liquidator or receiver, such liquidator or receiver and inthe case of a coal mine owned by a company the business whereof is being carried on by a managingagent, such managing agent; but does not include a person who merely receives a royalty, rent or finefrom the coal mine, or is merely the proprietor of the coal mine, subject to any lease, grant or licencefor the working thereof, or is merely the owner of the soil and not interested in the coal of the coalmine; but any contractor for the working of a coal mine or any part thereof shall be subject to this Actin like manner as if he were an employer, but not so as to exempt the employer from any liability;] 7* * * * * (f) "Fund" means the provident fund established under the Coal Mines Provident FundScheme; 8* * * 4[(fa) "Insurance Fund" means the Deposit-linked Insurance Fund established under subsection(2) of section 3G; (fb) "Insurance Scheme" means the Coal Mines Deposit-linked Insurance Scheme framed undersub-section (1) of section G;] 9[10[(fc)] ["managing agent" has the meaning assigned to it in the Companies Act, 1956(1 of 1956); and;] (g) "member" means a member of the Fund. 11[(h) "Pension Fund" means the Pension Fund established under sub-section (2) of section 3E; (i) "Pension Scheme" means the Coal Mines Pension Scheme framed under sub-section (1) ofsection 3E; (j) "superannuation", ,,in relation to an employee who is a member of the Pension Scheme, meansthe attainment, by the said employee, of such age as is fixed in the contract or conditions of service asthe age on the attainment of which such employee shall vacate the employment.]

(1) The Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, frame a scheme to be called the Coal Mines Provident Fund Scheme a for theestablishment of a provident fund for 1[employees] and specify the coal mines to which the said schemeshall apply. 2[(1A) The Fund shall vest in, and be administered by, the Board constituted under section 3A.] (2) Any scheme framed under the provisions of sub-section (1) may provide for all or any of thematters specified in the First Schedule.

1[3A. Constitution of Board of Trustees.--(1) The Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, constitute, with effect from such date as may be specified therein, a Board of Trusteesfor the territories to which this Act extends (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the Board) consisting ofthe following persons, namely:-- (a) a Chairman appointed by the Central Government; (b) the Coal Mines Provident Fund Commissioner, ex Officio; (c) three persons appointed by the Central Government; (d) not more than six persons representing Governments of such States as the CentralGovernment may specify in this behalf, from time to time, appointed by the Central Government; (e) six persons representing employers, appointed by the Central Government after consultationwith such organisations of employers as may be recognised by the Central Government in this behalf,and of whom at least one shall be a person who is not a member of any such organisation; (f) six persons representing employees, appointed by the Central Government after consultationwith such organisations of employees as may be recognised by the Central Government in this behalfand of whom at least one shall be an employee himself and at least one shall be a person who is not amember of any such organisation. (2) The terms and conditions subject to which a member of the Board may be appointed and the time,place and procedure of the meetings of the Board shall be such as may be provided for in the Coal MinesProvident Fund Scheme. (3) The Board shall 2[, subject to the provisions of section 3E 3[and section 3G],] administer the FundFund vested in it in such manner as may be specified in the Scheme aforesaid. (4) The Board shall perform such other functions as it may be required to perform by or under anyprovisions of 4[the Coal Mines Provident Fund Scheme 5[, the Coal Mines Family Pension Scheme andthe Insurance Scheme]].]

13B. Board of Trustee to be a body corporate.--The board of Trustees constituted under section 3 Ashall be a body corporate under the name specified in the notification constituting it, having perpetualsuccession and a common seal and shall by the said name sue and be sued.]