Dear Mr. Prasoon,
Understanding the "Prescribed Authority" Under the Payment of Bonus Act
The proviso to Section 2(1)(iii)(b) of the Payment of Bonus Act empowers the "prescribed authority" to change the option exercised by the employer under Section 2(1)(iii)(b). The "prescribed authority" is stated in Rule 3 of the Payment of Bonus Rules 1975.
In the case of establishments for whom the "appropriate Government" is the Central Government, the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) is the "prescribed authority." In cases where the "appropriate Government" is the State Government, the Labour Commissioner of the State is the "prescribed authority." In effect, the Parliament has entrusted the "prescribed authority" with the power under the proviso to Section 2(1)(iii)(b). However, the Parliament left it to the Rule-making power of the Central Government, vested in it under Section 38 of the Payment of Bonus Act, to notify the "prescribed authority." The Central Government, by virtue of the powers vested in it under Section 38 of the Payment of Bonus Act, had framed the Payment of Bonus Rules and had notified it in the Government of India Gazette.
The Labour Commissioners of the several States who are notified under the Payment of Bonus Rules to discharge the functions of the "prescribed authority" under the Payment of Bonus Act cannot further delegate the responsibility cast on them under the principle "a delegate cannot further delegate." The Commissioners of Labour do not have any inherent powers to delegate their functions under any law unless they are clothed with the power to do so. Moreover, when a Rule framed under an Act specifies some official to exercise a particular power, that power has to be exercised by that official alone and not by others, and that official cannot delegate that power to others. For such further delegation, there should be a provision in the Rules concerned.
Regards