Advisory Boards, Dues, Claims and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator

And its fifth is a change of official posture. The old Act appointed an Inspector. The Code appoints an Inspector-cum-Facilitator whose function under section 51(5)(a) is first to advise employers and workers relating to compliance, and only then to inspect, under an inspection scheme that may be web-based and use randomised selection. That is the Code's compliance philosophy: help first, prosecute later, and prosecute only after a written notice, which is the rule you will meet in section 54(3).

Some words this chapter uses

Tripartite describes a body composed of representatives of employers, of employees, and of independent persons. The Advisory Boards are tripartite.

Gazetted Officer is a rank of government officer. Section 45(1) fixes it as the floor for the claims authority.

Arrears of land revenue is the summary recovery procedure by which a Collector realises money without a fresh suit. Section 45(3) uses it.

Certificate of recovery is the document the authority issues to the Collector to start that process.

Nominee is the person an employee names to receive amounts due on his death, under section 44(1)(a).

Section 42: the Advisory Boards

Section 42 is short on powers and long on composition, and it is the composition that is examined.

42(1): the Central Advisory Board. The Central Government shall constitute it, of persons nominated by the Central Government:

• (a) representing employers;
• (b) representing employees, equal in number to the employer representatives;
• (c) independent persons, not exceeding one-third of the total members; and
• (d) five representatives of such State Governments as the Central Government nominates.

42(2): one-third of the members shall be women, and one of the independent members under clause (c) is appointed by the Central Government as Chairperson.

42(3): what it advises on. On a reference of issues relating to (a) fixation or revision of minimum wages and connected matters; (b) providing increasing employment opportunities for women; (c) the extent to which women may be employed in establishments or employments the Central Government notifies; and (d) any other matter relating to the Code. On that advice the Central Government may issue directions to the State Government as it deems fit on the matters referred.

42(4) to (9): the State Advisory Boards. Every State Government shall constitute one, to advise on the same four heads, with the fourth head confined to matters the State Government refers. It may constitute committees and sub-committees on those matters, and the Board, its committees and its sub-committees are composed on the same tripartite pattern with the same one-third women requirement. The Chairperson of the Board is appointed by the State Government from among the independent members; the Chairperson of a committee or sub-committee is appointed by the State Advisory Board.

42(8) tells the State Board what to weigh when advising on the employment of women: the number of women employed in the establishment or employment, the nature of work, hours of work, suitability of women for employment, the need for increasing employment opportunities for women including part time employment, and other relevant factors.

42(9): the State Government may, after considering the Board's advice and after inviting and considering representations from establishments, employees or any other person it thinks fit, issue such direction as may be deemed necessary.

42(10) and (11): both Boards regulate their own procedure as prescribed, and their terms of office are as prescribed.

Three points repay attention.

The Boards advise; they do not fix. Minimum wages are fixed by the appropriate Government under section 8, and section 42 is one of the two methods there, the committee method being the other. The Board's product is advice, on which a direction may follow.

The gender provisions are unusually strong for an Indian labour statute, and they run through the section: one-third of the members women in both Boards and in every committee, and two of the four heads of advice concerned with women's employment.

The commencement is a trap. Section 42(1) to (3), the Central Advisory Board, was brought into force on 18 December 2020, well before the rest of the Code, and reading S.O. 5322(E) by itself would leave you thinking otherwise. The reason is practical: the Board had to exist before it could advise on the rules and the wage floor.

Sections 43 and 44: who pays, and what happens on death

Section 43: responsibility for payment. Every employer shall pay all amounts required to be paid under the Code to every employee employed by him. Proviso: where the employer fails to pay, the company or firm or association or other person who is the proprietor of the establishment in which the employee is employed shall be responsible for the payment. The Explanation gives "firm" the meaning it has in the Indian Partnership Act 1932.

This is a piercing provision and it exists because of contract labour and managerial layers. The person who engaged the worker may be a manager, a supervisor or a contractor with no assets. Section 43 makes the proprietor of the establishment answerable when he does not pay. Read it with section 2(l)'s definition of employer, which already brings in the manager and the occupier, and the effect is that liability follows the establishment rather than the individual.

Section 44: undisbursed dues on death or disappearance. All amounts payable to an employee that could not be paid on account of his death before payment, or on account of his whereabouts not being known, shall be:

• (a) paid to the person nominated by him under the rules; or
• (b) where there is no nomination, or the amounts cannot for any reason be paid to the nominee, deposited with the prescribed authority, who deals with them as prescribed.

44(2): once the employer has paid the nominee or deposited the amount with that authority, he is discharged of his liability.

The design is that the money must leave the employer's hands either way. An employer cannot keep wages because the worker died without a nominee, and equally he is not left holding a fund and exposed to competing claims from the family: he deposits and is discharged. Note the second trigger, whereabouts not being known, which covers a migrant worker who leaves without collecting his final wages.

Section 45: claims

This is the section students are asked about most, and it has seven sub-sections.

45(1): the authority. The appropriate Government may, by notification, appoint one or more authorities, not below the rank of a Gazetted Officer, to hear and determine the claims which arise under the provisions of this Code. One authority, all claims: minimum wages, payment of wages, bonus, equal remuneration.

45(2): compensation and the time target. While deciding a claim the authority may order, having regard to the circumstances under which the claim arises, the payment of compensation in addition to the claim determined, which may extend to ten times of the claim determined, and endeavour shall be made to decide the claim within three months.

Two things to see. The compensation is discretionary and circumstance-sensitive, so a deliberate withholding attracts it and a bona fide accounting error may not. And the three months is an endeavour, not a limitation on jurisdiction: an award made later is not void.

45(3): recovery. If the employer fails to pay the claim determined and the compensation ordered, the authority shall issue a certificate of recovery to the Collector or District Magistrate of the district where the establishment is located, who shall recover the same as arrears of land revenue and remit it to the authority for payment to the employee.

That closes the gap between an order and money. The worker does not have to execute a decree; the Collector recovers by the summary land-revenue process and the money comes back through the authority.

45(4): who may apply. (a) the employee concerned; (b) any Trade Union registered under the Trade Unions Act 1926 of which the employee is a member; or (c) the Inspector-cum-Facilitator.

45(5): subject to rules, a single application may be filed on behalf of or in respect of any number of employees employed in an establishment.

45(6): limitation. The application may be filed within three years from the date on which the claim arises. Proviso: the authority may entertain it after three years on sufficient cause being shown for the delay.

45(7): powers. The claims authority and the appellate authority under section 49(1) have all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 for taking evidence, enforcing the attendance of witnesses and compelling the production of documents; and each is deemed to be a civil court for all the purposes of section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973.

The deeming in 45(7) is about perjury and false evidence. Section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure governed complaints for offences against public justice, and deeming the authority a civil court lets it set the criminal law in motion against a witness who lies to it.

Flag the cross-references. Section 45(4)(b) names the Trade Unions Act 1926, repealed by section 103 of the Industrial Relations Code 2020; and section 45(7) names the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, which stands repealed by section 531(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023. Both references now work through the construction rules for repealed enactments rather than directly.

Sections 46 to 48: bonus disputes, accounts and audit

These three sections exist because bonus, unlike a wage, is computed from the employer's accounts.

Section 46: reference of disputes. Notwithstanding anything in the Code, where a dispute arises between an employer and his employees with respect to (a) the fixation of bonus or eligibility for payment of bonus, or (b) the application of the Code, in respect of bonus, to an establishment in public sector, that dispute shall be deemed to be an industrial dispute within the meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947.

So a bonus dispute goes to the industrial adjudication machinery, not to the section 45 authority. The distinction is between a claim and a dispute: a worker saying "I was paid less bonus than the Code allows" makes a claim; a body of workmen contending for a different rate or contending that the Chapter applies at all raises a dispute. The Industrial Disputes Act 1947 having been repealed by section 103 of the Industrial Relations Code 2020, the reference now takes effect through the corresponding provisions of that Code, whose section 2(q) defines industrial dispute and whose sections 44 and 53 supply the machinery.

Section 47: presumption about audited accounts. Where, in proceedings before the section 45 authority, the section 49 appellate authority, a Tribunal, or an arbitrator referred to in section 2(aa) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, on a dispute of the nature specified in sections 45 and 46 or on a section 49 appeal, the balance sheet and profit and loss account of an employer that is a corporation or company, other than a banking company, duly audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General or by auditors qualified under section 141 of the Companies Act 2013, are produced, that body may presume the statements and particulars to be accurate, and it is not necessary for the corporation or company to prove their accuracy by affidavit or otherwise.

Proviso: where the body is satisfied that they are not accurate, it may take such steps as it thinks necessary to find out their accuracy.

47(2): on an application by a Trade Union party to the dispute, or, where there is no Trade Union, by the employees who are parties, requiring clarification of any item in those accounts, the body may, after satisfying itself that the clarification is necessary, direct the corporation or company to furnish it within a specified time, and the corporation or company shall comply.

Section 47 is the one real answer to the criticism of section 31(3). Section 31(3) forbids the authority from disclosing the balance sheet's contents without the employer's consent; section 47(2) lets the union compel a clarification of any item in it. The presumption of accuracy is rebuttable under the proviso.

Section 48: employers who are not corporations or companies. Where a bonus claim, dispute or appeal is pending before one of the same four bodies and the employer is not a corporation or company, then: 48(1) if his accounts have been audited by an auditor qualified under section 141 of the Companies Act 2013, section 47 applies to them; 48(2) if they have not been so audited and the body is of opinion that an audit is necessary for deciding the question, it may direct the employer to get his accounts audited within a specified time by such auditor as it thinks fit, and the employer shall comply; 48(3) if he fails, the body may, without prejudice to section 54, get the accounts audited itself; 48(4) section 47 then applies to accounts audited under (2) or (3); and 48(5) the expenses of an audit under sub-section (3), including the auditor's remuneration, are determined by the body and paid by the employer, and on default are recovered by the section 45(3) certificate of recovery procedure.

Section 48 exists because the sole proprietor and the partnership have no statutory audit. Without it, the employer least likely to keep accounts would be the one whose accounts could never be examined. Note the sting in 48(3) and 48(5): refusing to audit does not stop the audit, it merely means it is done for you and billed to you, and non-compliance is separately punishable under section 54.

Sections 49 and 50: appeal, and records

Section 49: appeal.

• 49(1): any person aggrieved by an order passed by the authority under section 45(2) may appeal to the appellate authority having jurisdiction, appointed by the appropriate Government by notification, within ninety days from the date of the order, in the prescribed form and manner. Proviso: the appellate authority may entertain it after ninety days if satisfied the delay was due to sufficient cause.
• 49(2): the appellate authority is appointed from officers of the appropriate Government holding a post at least one rank higher than the section 45(1) authority.
• 49(3): it hears the parties and disposes of the appeal, and endeavour shall be made to dispose of it within three months.
• 49(4): outstanding dues under its orders are recovered by the section 45 authority, by issuing a certificate of recovery in the manner in section 45(3).

Note that the appeal is departmental, not judicial. An officer one rank higher hears it. That is quick and cheap, and it is criticised for the same reason: the appellate authority is a colleague of the authority appealed from, in the same administration.

Section 50: records, returns and notices. Every employer of an establishment to which the Code applies shall:

• (1) maintain a register with details of persons employed, the muster roll, wages and other prescribed details;
• (2) display a notice on the notice board at a prominent place containing an abstract of the Code, category-wise wage rates, the wage period, the day or date and time of payment, and the name and address of the Inspector-cum-Facilitator having jurisdiction;
• (3) issue wage slips in the prescribed form and manner.

50(4): sub-sections (1) to (3) do not apply to an employer to the extent he employs not more than five persons for agriculture or domestic purpose; proviso: such an employer shall, when demanded, produce before the Inspector-cum-Facilitator reasonable proof of the payment of wages to those persons. The Explanation defines domestic purpose as a purpose exclusively relating to the home or family affairs of the employer, not including any affair relating to an establishment, industry, trade, business, manufacture or occupation.

Section 50 is what makes section 59 work. Under section 59 the burden of proving payment lies on the employer, and it lies there because section 50 requires him to keep the register, the muster roll and the wage slips that would prove it. The exemption in 50(4) is narrow and its proviso keeps a residual duty: even the household employing a cook must show reasonable proof of payment when asked.

Section 51: the Inspector-cum-Facilitator

51(1): appointment. The appropriate Government may by notification appoint Inspector-cum-Facilitators, exercising the powers conferred by sub-section (4) throughout the State, or within assigned geographical limits in relation to one or more establishments, or in relation to one or more establishments irrespective of geographical limits.

51(2): inspection scheme. The appropriate Government may by notification lay down an inspection scheme, which may provide for web-based inspection and calling for information relating to inspection electronically.

51(3): randomised selection. Without prejudice to sub-section (2), it may confer on the Inspector-cum-Facilitator jurisdiction of randomised selection of inspection as specified.

51(4): every Inspector-cum-Facilitator is deemed to be a public servant within the meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

51(5): the facilitation function. The Inspector-cum-Facilitator may (a) advise employers and workers relating to compliance with the provisions of this Code, and (b) inspect the establishments assigned to him, subject to instructions or guidelines issued by the appropriate Government from time to time.

51(6): powers. He may (a) examine any person found on the premises whom he has reasonable cause to believe is a worker of the establishment; (b) require any person to give information in his power to give with respect to names and addresses of persons; (c) search, seize or take copies of registers, records of wages or notices, or portions of them, that he considers relevant in respect of an offence under this Code which he has reason to believe the employer has committed; (d) bring to the notice of the appropriate Government defects or abuses not covered by any law in force; and (e) exercise such other prescribed powers.

51(7): a person required to produce a document or give information is deemed to be legally bound to do so within the meaning of sections 175 and 176 of the Indian Penal Code.

51(8): the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 apply, so far as may be, to a search or seizure as they apply to one made under the authority of a warrant issued under section 94 of that Code.

Three observations.

The change of name is a change of function. Advice comes first in sub-section (5). Read with section 54(3), which requires a written notice of the defect and an opportunity to comply before prosecution for most offences, the design is that inspection produces correction rather than prosecution.

Inspection is no longer at the inspector's discretion. The inspection scheme, the web-based system and randomised selection in sub-sections (2) and (3) exist to remove the arbitrary visit, which was the standing complaint of employers against the old Inspector regime. The standing complaint against the new one is the mirror image: randomised inspection means an establishment may never be inspected, and a worker cannot summon an inspector to his workplace.

The cross-references are dated and, in two places, wrong. Sections 51(4) and 51(7) invoke the Indian Penal Code 1860, repealed by section 358(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, which came into force on 1 July 2024; section 51(8) invokes the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, repealed by section 531(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023. Separately, the internal numbering slipped: sub-section (6) is expressed to be "subject to the provisions of sub-section (4)", which is the public-servant deeming and imposes no condition, and sub-sections (7) and (8) speak of information required and searches made "under sub-section (5)", when the power to require information is in (6)(b) and the power to search and seize is in (6)(c). The provisions are workable, but the drafting is careless and it is fair to say so.

A worked example

The facts. Rehana works in a bakery in Nashik employing 30 people. For four months her employer pays her 6,000 rupees a month although the minimum wage notified for her category is 9,000. She is owed 12,000 rupees.

Where does she go? To the authority appointed under section 45(1), an officer not below the rank of a Gazetted Officer. One authority takes every claim under the Code, so she does not have to decide first whether her grievance is a minimum-wages grievance or a payment-of-wages grievance.

Who files? She may file herself under section 45(4)(a); her registered trade union may file under (b); or the Inspector-cum-Facilitator may file under (c). If eleven of her colleagues are in the same position, section 45(5) permits one application for all twelve.

By when? Section 45(6): within three years of the date the claim arose, and later than that only if the authority is satisfied there is sufficient cause for the delay.

What can she get? The 12,000 determined, and under section 45(2) compensation in addition, up to ten times the claim determined, that is up to 1,20,000 rupees, the authority having regard to the circumstances in which the claim arose. Deliberate underpayment against a notified rate is precisely the circumstance the sub-section is aimed at. The authority is to endeavour to decide within three months.

How is proof handled? By section 59 the burden of proving that the amount was paid is on the employer, and section 50 required him to keep a register, a muster roll and wage slips. If he produces none, he has nothing to discharge that burden with.

And if he does not pay? Section 45(3): the authority issues a certificate of recovery to the Collector or District Magistrate of the district where the bakery is, who recovers it as arrears of land revenue and remits it to the authority, which pays Rehana.

If either side is aggrieved. Section 49(1): appeal within ninety days to an appellate authority one rank higher, extendable for sufficient cause; 49(3) an endeavour to decide within three months; 49(4) dues under its order recovered by the same certificate procedure.

Now change the claim. Rehana's union contends that the bakery's bonus for the year should be at twenty per cent. rather than the minimum, and the employer denies that Chapter IV applies at all. That is not a section 45 claim. By section 46(a) a dispute about the fixation of bonus or eligibility for payment of bonus is deemed an industrial dispute, and goes to the industrial adjudication machinery. If the bakery were a company and produced audited accounts, section 47(1) would let the Tribunal presume them accurate, but section 47(2) would let the union apply for clarification of any item in them, and the proviso to 47(1) would let the Tribunal go behind them if satisfied they were not accurate. The bakery being a partnership firm, section 48 applies instead: if its accounts are unaudited and the Tribunal thinks an audit necessary, it may direct an audit, and if the firm fails, have the accounts audited and charge the cost to the firm, recoverable by the section 45(3) certificate.

What this does NOT mean

It does not mean the Advisory Boards fix wages. They advise; the appropriate Government fixes under section 8 and may issue directions under sections 42(3) and 42(9).

It does not mean only the worker can claim. Section 45(4) admits his registered trade union and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, and section 45(5) allows one application for many employees.

It does not mean three months is a deadline. Sections 45(2) and 49(3) require an endeavour; an order beyond three months is not bad for that reason.

It does not mean ten times is automatic. Section 45(2) makes compensation discretionary and directs regard to the circumstances in which the claim arose.

It does not mean a bonus dispute goes to the claims authority. Section 46 deems disputes about the fixation of bonus, eligibility for bonus, and the Chapter's application to a public sector establishment to be industrial disputes.

It does not mean audited accounts are conclusive. The proviso to section 47(1) lets the body take such steps as it thinks necessary if satisfied they are not accurate, and section 47(2) lets a union compel clarification.

It does not mean the small household employer keeps no proof. The proviso to section 50(4) requires reasonable proof of payment to be produced when demanded.

It does not mean the Inspector-cum-Facilitator has no teeth. Section 51(6) carries powers of examination, requisition and search and seizure, and section 51(7) makes non-production punishable.

Limits, criticism and amendments

The single authority and the three-year period are genuine gains and the strongest things in this part of the Code. So is the compensation power in section 45(2): a multiplier of up to ten changes the arithmetic of withholding wages.

But the machinery is administrative from top to bottom. The claims authority is a Gazetted Officer of the appropriate Government; the appellate authority is another officer of the same Government one rank higher; and there is no statutory second appeal. A worker dissatisfied after section 49 has only the writ jurisdiction of the High Court. Independence and specialisation are both weaker than under a tribunal.

Randomised, web-based inspection cuts both ways. It removes the arbitrary and rent-seeking visit; it also means no one is entitled to an inspection. The Code gives a worker no right to require one, and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator's duty to advise is not a duty to enforce.

Section 42's Boards have no independent power. They advise on reference. The Central Board depends on the Central Government referring issues to it, and nothing in the section obliges a reference.

Sections 31(3) and 47 sit uneasily together. One says the authority shall not disclose what the balance sheet contains without the employer's agreement; the other lets a union demand clarification of any item in it. The reconciliation is that a clarification is not disclosure of the document, but the line is fine and the worker's practical position is weak.

And the cross-references need conforming. Section 45(4)(b) names the repealed Trade Unions Act 1926; section 46 deems disputes to be industrial disputes within the meaning of the repealed Industrial Disputes Act 1947, as does section 47(1)(d) for the definition of arbitrator; sections 51(4), 51(7) and 51(8) name the repealed Indian Penal Code 1860 and Code of Criminal Procedure 1973; and section 51's own internal cross-references to sub-section (5) point at the wrong sub-section.

Quick revision

• Section 42: Central and State Advisory Boards, tripartite, employees equal in number to employers, independent members not exceeding one-third, and one-third of all members women; the Central Board also has five State Government representatives; Chairperson from the independent members. They advise on fixation or revision of minimum wages, increasing employment opportunities for women, the extent to which women may be employed, and other matters. Section 42(1) to (3) commenced 18 December 2020, ahead of the Code.
• Section 43: every employer pays; on his failure the company, firm, association or other proprietor of the establishment is responsible.
• Section 44: dues unpaid on death or because whereabouts are unknown go to the nominee, failing which are deposited with the prescribed authority; the employer is then discharged.
• Section 45: authority not below Gazetted Officer; compensation up to ten times the claim determined; endeavour to decide in three months; unpaid amounts recovered by certificate of recovery to the Collector or District Magistrate as arrears of land revenue; application by the employee, a registered trade union of which he is a member, or the Inspector-cum-Facilitator; a single application for any number of employees; limitation three years, extendable for sufficient cause; civil court powers and deemed a civil court for section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973.
• Section 46: disputes on fixation of bonus, eligibility for bonus, and the Chapter's application to a public sector establishment are deemed industrial disputes.
• Section 47: audited accounts of a corporation or company other than a banking company may be presumed accurate; the body may go behind them if satisfied they are not; a trade union, or the employees where there is none, may compel clarification of any item.
• Section 48: for employers who are not corporations or companies, the body may direct an audit, and on failure have it done and charge the employer, recoverable under section 45(3), without prejudice to section 54.
• Section 49: appeal within ninety days, extendable for sufficient cause, to an officer one rank higher; endeavour to decide in three months; dues recovered by certificate of recovery.
• Section 50: register and muster roll, notice board with the abstract of the Code, category-wise rates, wage period, day and time of payment and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator's name and address, and wage slips; not more than five persons for agriculture or domestic purpose exempt, but reasonable proof of payment on demand.
• Section 51: Inspector-cum-Facilitator; inspection scheme, web-based inspection, randomised selection; deemed a public servant; advises first, then inspects; powers to examine, require information, and search, seize or copy records; non-production legally bound; search and seizure on the criminal-procedure warrant analogy.

Test yourself

1. Describe the composition and functions of the Advisory Boards. Under section 42(1) the Central Government shall constitute a Central Advisory Board of persons nominated by it, representing employers, representing employees in a number equal to the employer representatives, independent persons not exceeding one-third of the total, and five representatives of such State Governments as it nominates; under section 42(2) one-third of the members shall be women and an independent member is appointed Chairperson. Under section 42(4) every State Government shall constitute a State Advisory Board, which may under section 42(5) constitute committees and sub-committees, all composed on the same tripartite pattern with the same one-third women requirement under sections 42(6) and 42(7). Both Boards advise on the fixation or revision of minimum wages and connected matters, on providing increasing employment opportunities for women, on the extent to which women may be employed in notified establishments or employments, and on any other matter under the Code; and the Governments may issue directions on that advice under sections 42(3) and 42(9).

2. Explain the claims procedure under section 45. The appropriate Government may by notification appoint one or more authorities, not below the rank of a Gazetted Officer, to hear and determine claims arising under the Code. An application may be filed by the employee, by a registered trade union of which he is a member, or by the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, and a single application may be filed on behalf of any number of employees in an establishment. It must be filed within three years of the date the claim arose, though the authority may entertain it later on sufficient cause being shown. The authority may, having regard to the circumstances in which the claim arose, order compensation in addition to the claim determined extending to ten times that claim, and shall endeavour to decide the claim within three months. If the employer fails to pay, the authority issues a certificate of recovery to the Collector or District Magistrate, who recovers it as arrears of land revenue and remits it for payment to the employee. The authority has the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 for taking evidence and compelling attendance and production, and is deemed a civil court for section 195 and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973.

3. What appeal lies from the claims authority? Under section 49(1) any person aggrieved by an order passed by the authority under section 45(2) may appeal within ninety days, in the prescribed form and manner, to the appellate authority having jurisdiction appointed by the appropriate Government by notification, and the appellate authority may entertain a later appeal if satisfied the delay was due to sufficient cause. Under section 49(2) the appellate authority must be an officer of the appropriate Government holding a post at least one rank higher than the section 45 authority. Under section 49(3) it disposes of the appeal after hearing the parties, with an endeavour to do so within three months; and under section 49(4) outstanding dues under its orders are recovered by the section 45 authority through a certificate of recovery in the manner of section 45(3).

4. How are bonus disputes dealt with? Section 46 provides that, notwithstanding anything in the Code, where a dispute arises between an employer and his employees with respect to the fixation of bonus or eligibility for payment of bonus under the Code, or with respect to the application of the Code in respect of bonus to an establishment in the public sector, that dispute is deemed to be an industrial dispute, and it therefore goes to the industrial adjudication machinery rather than to the claims authority. Sections 47 and 48 then govern the accounts: audited balance sheets and profit and loss accounts of a corporation or company other than a banking company may be presumed accurate, subject to the body's power under the proviso to go behind them and to a trade union's right under section 47(2) to compel clarification of any item; and where the employer is not a corporation or company, section 48 permits the body to direct an audit and, on failure, to have the accounts audited at the employer's expense.

5. What records must an employer keep, and why does it matter? Section 50(1) requires every employer of an establishment to which the Code applies to maintain a register with the details of persons employed, the muster roll, wages and other prescribed details; section 50(2) requires a notice on the notice board at a prominent place containing an abstract of the Code, category-wise wage rates, the wage period, the day or date and time of payment, and the name and address of the Inspector-cum-Facilitator having jurisdiction; and section 50(3) requires wage slips in the prescribed form. Section 50(4) exempts an employer to the extent he employs not more than five persons for agriculture or domestic purpose, "domestic purpose" being defined as exclusively relating to the home or family affairs of the employer, but its proviso requires him to produce reasonable proof of payment on demand. These records matter because section 59 places the burden of proving payment on the employer, and section 50 is what supplies the material with which that burden could be discharged.

6. Who is the Inspector-cum-Facilitator and what may he do? Under section 51(1) the appropriate Government may by notification appoint Inspector-cum-Facilitators, with jurisdiction throughout the State, within assigned geographical limits, or over assigned establishments irrespective of geographical limits. Under sections 51(2) and 51(3) the appropriate Government may lay down an inspection scheme providing for web-based inspection and electronic calling of information, and may confer jurisdiction of randomised selection of inspection. Under section 51(4) he is deemed a public servant. Under section 51(5) he may advise employers and workers on compliance and inspect the establishments assigned to him, subject to Government instructions or guidelines. Under section 51(6) he may examine any person on the premises whom he reasonably believes to be a worker, require information about names and addresses, search, seize or copy registers, wage records or notices relevant to an offence he has reason to believe the employer has committed, bring defects or abuses not covered by any law to the Government's notice, and exercise other prescribed powers. Section 51(7) makes a person required to produce a document or give information legally bound to do so, and section 51(8) applies criminal procedure to a search or seizure as if made under a warrant.