Orissa HC Orders Special Audit Of Unutilised Workers’ Welfare Funds

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Thursday ordered the State government to conduct a special audit of funds intended for construction workers and distribute the funds to the beneficiaries in accordance with the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) (Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Services) Rules.

The responsible authorities have been given six months’ time to complete the special audit of all the funds collected and disbursed under the BOCW Act, according to a directive from a division bench consisting of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman.

Mrinalini Padhi, appearing on behalf of the Odisha State Legal Services Authority, noted during the hearing that a balance of Rs 579,49,41,575 will go unused by the end of December 2022. Ishwar Mohanty, the State’s additional standing counsel, did not contest this.

“Considering that the unutilized amount is considerable and the Building & Construction Workers’ (Cess) Act (BOCW Act) was meant essentially to cater to the needs of the building and construction workers, the Court considers it necessary to require the State to get a special audit undertaken of all the amounts collected and the disbursal of the amounts under the BOCW Act and the Rules keeping in view the directions of the Supreme Court as well as the object and spirit of the BOCW Act and Rules,” the court said.

The Odisha Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board has been ordered by the court to ensure separate accounting of the sums collected from the employer as cess, Rs. 50 per beneficiary collected under Rule 267 of the Rules, and Rs. 20 from the construction worker for registration under Section 12(3) of the BOCW Act.

The court instructed the Board to produce an affidavit attesting to the strict compliance with the word and spirit of the BOCW Act and Rules and the fact that all construction and building workers received the benefits as intended by those documents.

The next date is slated for July 31, 2023, and the court has ordered the government to provide the special audit report and an affidavit before then.