Kerala labour wing to increase penalty to Rs 2 lakh

Thiruvananthapuram: The labour department is planning to strengthen the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act and raise the penalty to Rs 2 lakh. A proposal to this effect is being considered as many big establishments are repeatedly committing offence even though they have been penalised before.
Additional labour commissioner (enforcement) A. Alexander says, “The Model Shops and Establishments Act recently cleared by the Union Cabinet proposes that whoever contravenes with it may be punished with a fine up to '2 lakh. In the state Act too, such an amendment is needed. We will be taking steps towards this.”

The current penalty, running into a few thousands, does not deter big establishments whose everyday turnover is in lakhs. In Thiruvananthapuram, some of the big establishments have more than 10 prosecution cases for various violations of the Shops Act, Minimum Wages Act, Maternity Benefit Act and National and Festival Holidays Act. Ramachandra Textiles group, which was recently in the news for its poor employee accommodation facilities, has close to 40 cases as per the labour department records.

There are 12 cases against Popular Motor World Showroom and 13 against Nandilath G-Mart. However, filing cases have not helped in improving the condition of employees. Some of the violations include not giving overtime wages, even though employees are made to work for more than 8 hours per day; failure to pay prescribed minimum wages to employees; and failure to grand prescribed rest intervals.