Understanding the Contract Act of 1970: What Registers Must Employers and Contractors Keep?

Could you kindly guide me on the requirements under the Contract Act of 1970 regarding the number of registers to be maintained by the Principal Employer and contractor?

Regards,
Manmohan Singh
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Registers Required Under the Contract Act of 1970

The principal employer should maintain a register of contractors. The contractors should maintain the following registers:

1. Register of persons employed.
2. Muster roll.
3. Register of wages.
4. Register of deductions for damage or loss.
5. Register of fines.
6. Register of advances.
7. Register of overtime.

Regards.

Thank you for your valuable reply. Can you help me clarify one more thing? Recently, I faced an interview where I was asked a question related to the contract act: "How do you verify if the contractor has paid the wages of his workers?" I responded by saying that we cross-check the payment of wages register of the contractor. However, the interviewer was not satisfied with this answer. Can you provide guidance on the correct response to this question?

Thank you.

Every principal employer and every contractor shall maintain such registers and records, giving particulars of contract labor employed, the nature of work performed by the contract labor, and the rates of wages paid to the contract labor.

Mutual Agreement Between Employer and Contractor

When an employer gives work to a contractor, they will enter into a mutual agreement in which they will mention the contract amount and the work completion period. The contractor will pay the money to the workers. What is the need for the principal employer to cross-verify this?

Simply put, as per the contract signed by the principal employer and the contractor, the principal employer will pay the money to the contractor, and the contractor will pay the money to their workers. Therefore, there is no need for the principal employer to cross-verify.

Hope this clears things up.

It is the responsibility of the Principal employer to ensure that the contractual employee receives their salary on time. Moreover, an authorized representative of the Principal employer should be present while making the payment to contractual employees. After the disbursement, the same person must mention in the salary & wages register of contractual employees:

"Certified that the amount shown in column No---------- has been paid to the workmen concerned in my presence on -------- at ---------"

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Regards,
Dinesh Kumar