Maharashtra's New Rule on Electronic Labor Records: What Does It Mean for You?

Dear friends,

The Maharashtra Government has given permission to keep labor-related records in electronic form in addition to physical form. Please refer to the attached Government Resolution (GR) dated 8.4.2015 in Marathi.

Thanks

Dear Agrawal ji,

Thank you for sharing the information promptly. This circular covers permission to keep hard copies of electronic records of laborers under the Factory Act, Shops and Establishments Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Equal Remuneration Act, Bonus Act, and Maternity Benefit Act. However, the Maharashtra Minimum HRA Act is left out from this circular.

It is indeed a positive move by the Government.

Thank you.

Hi,

Good information. Thanks for posting.

The Government of Karnataka granted permission for this a few years back. This includes the use of combined registers and an integrated annual return to prevent duplication and move towards modernization.

Ram K Navaratna HR Resonance

Dear Friends,

The CLRA Act and BOCW Act are not included in this circular. This circular covers permission to keep hard copies of electronic records of laborers under the Factory Act, Shops and Establishment Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Equal Remuneration Act, Bonus Act, and Maternity Benefit Act.

Legal Recognition of Electronic Records

The Maharashtra government has done nothing new; the permissions are already extended by Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The section reads as follows:

4. Legal recognition of electronic records.

Where any law provides that information or any other matter shall be in writing or in the typewritten or printed form, then, notwithstanding anything contained in such law, such requirement shall be deemed to have been satisfied if such information or matter is:

(a) rendered or made available in an electronic form; and
(b) accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference.

The circular emanates from the above. The state government perhaps wants to show that it has the powers to allow, whereas the Act has already done so.

Regards,
Shrikant Prabhudesai
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Dear Shrikant ji, My special thanks to you for reproducing Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. I studied the Information Technology Act, 2000 during my Cyber Law studies. I am familiar with this section as I have read it several times, but I must confess that I had not applied my mind to this section until I read your post.

About a year ago, I participated in a discussion on obtaining permission to keep records electronically, along with many dignitaries. Unfortunately, no one drew attention to the above section in the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Even today, you may find many prosecutions in ANADI COURT for maintaining records in electronic form without permission, and this trend may continue in the days to come.

Responsibility of HR Professionals

My question is to all HR professionals: Who is responsible for this?

I also posed the same question in the following link: https://www.citehr.com/524650-shop-e...-register.html

Dear Mr. Korgaonkar,

In this connection, the Karnataka government has informed one of my clients that with the advent of the IT Act, there is no need to seek permission for maintaining records in electronic form. No government official will state that you do not need permission for obvious reasons.

Shrikant Prabhudesai

Dear All,

Please advise if this also applies to the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act. Also, can we keep the biometric records only and do away with musters? I am not that good with Marathi interpretation.

May I know the Karnataka notification for filing records, returns, and registers electronically?