Navigating Indian Laws: Can Anyone Guide Me on Cement Industry Compliance?

Dear All,

Can anyone help me with all the applicable laws for the cement industry?

Regards,
Manoj Sharma

Dear Manoj,

If your core activity is the manufacture of cement, the Factories Act, 1948, and the Mines Act, 1952, together with all allied labor laws will be applicable.

Dear Umakanthan ji,

With due respect to you, Sir, may I ask how the Mines Act of 1952 will be applicable to a cement manufacturing unit?

According to my understanding, the Mines Act of 1952 is applicable to mines. Mines are defined as any excavation where operations are conducted for the purpose of searching for or obtaining minerals.

Thank you.

The cement manufacturing process starts from the mining of raw materials used in cement manufacturing, primarily limestone and clays. This is where the Mines Act may come into play for the cement industry.

Dear Nathrao,

Thank you for your participation. With due respect to you too, your response is somehow not appealing to my interpretation. My understanding is that excavation work is carried out for the purpose of searching for or obtaining minerals.

Similarly, in many manufacturing units, minerals are used as raw materials. Are you suggesting that in every such manufacturing operation, the Mines Act applies in addition to the Factory Act? I may also be mistaken.

Thank you.

Dear Mathews2211,

First of all, you are welcome to this forum of knowledge sharing. The current thread is on a specific question about the labor laws applicable to the cement industry. You could have started a fresh thread with your query. Somebody will tell you how to start a new thread.

To reply to your query, I would like you to read section 13 of the EPF & MP Act 1952, which relates to Inspectors. I am providing the said section verbatim below for your ready reference, with the hope that you will get the correct answer from it.

Inspectors

(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit to be Inspectors for the purposes of this Act, the Scheme, the Pension Scheme, or the Insurance Scheme and may define their jurisdiction.

(2) Any Inspector appointed under subsection 1 may, for the purpose of inquiring into the correctness of any information furnished in connection with this Act or with any Scheme or the Insurance Scheme or for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the provisions of this Act or of any Scheme or the Insurance Scheme have been complied with in respect of an establishment to which any Scheme or the Insurance Scheme applies or for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act or any Scheme or the Insurance Scheme are applicable to any establishment to which the Scheme or the Insurance Scheme has not been applied or for the purpose of determining whether the conditions subject to which exemption was granted under section 17 are being complied with by the employer in relation to an exempted establishment.

- (a) require an employer or any contractor from whom any amount is recoverable under section 8A to furnish such information as he may consider necessary;
- (b) At any reasonable time and with such assistance, if any, as he may think fit, enter and search any establishment or any premises connected therewith and require anyone found in charge thereof to produce before him for examination any accounts, books, registers, and other documents relating to the employment of persons or the payment of wages in the establishment;
- (c) Examine, with respect to any matter relevant to any of the purposes aforesaid, the employer or any contractor from whom any amount is recoverable under section 8A, his agent or servant or any other person found in charge of the establishment or any premises connected therewith or whom the Inspector has reasonable cause to believe to be or to have been an employee in the establishment;
- (d) Make copies of, or take extracts from, any book, register, or other document maintained in relation to the establishment and, where he has reason to believe that any offense under this Act has been committed by an employer, seize with such assistance as he may think fit, such book, register, or other document or portions thereof as he may consider relevant in respect of that offense;
- (e) Exercise such other powers as the Scheme may provide.

(2A) Any Inspector appointed under subsection 1 may, for the purpose of inquiring into the correctness of any information furnished in connection with the Pension Scheme or for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the provisions of this Act or of the Pension Scheme have been complied with in respect of an establishment to which the Pension Scheme applies, exercise all or any of the powers conferred on him under clause a, b, clause c, or clause d of subsection 2.

(2B) The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898) shall, so far as may be, apply to any search or seizure under subsection 2 or under subsection 2A, as the case may be, as they apply to any search or seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under section 98 of the said Code.

I hope this helps you in understanding the relevant section. Let me know if you need further clarification.

Best regards, [Your Name]

Dear Sir,

You may be right also. The point which I am trying to make is probably that many of the big cement factories keep/control captive limestone mines, so the chance of the Mines Act being applicable is higher. That is just an interpretation.

Certainly, you are correct, Mr. Korgaonkar, as the language of my answer gives the impression that the Mines Act invariably applies to all Cement Manufacturing Units. It is a slip caused by an excess of enthusiasm.

Dear Umakanthan ji,

I have also tried to examine the above statements. Somehow, I still feel that the Mines Act does not apply to any of the Cement Manufacturing Units. May I request you to kindly correct me if I am wrong?

Dear Shri Korgaonkar, There is no point in correcting each other. The point is mutual learning from each other. I refer to this link where laws affecting the cement industry and challenges are discussed. Kindly refer to the link for reading purposes. Environmental Regulations in the Indian Cement Industry

"Cement and Mining projects fall under the Schedule of EIA Notification 2006 of MoEF and are classified into category A and B. For category ‘A’ industry, EIA is mandatory and environmental clearance has to be obtained from MoEF, and for category ‘B’ industry, environmental clearance has to be obtained from state pollution control boards."

Wherever limestone mines are acquired by cement factories, the mining act will be applicable.

Hope that Mr. Rao's latest response is self-explanatory on the point. The original question was about the labor laws applicable to the cement industry as a whole. When an industry runs composite activities in an integrated manner, the doctrine of severability necessitates the application of specific laws applicable to each separable activity. When a cement manufacturer has any mines either on an ownership basis or on a lease basis, the Mines Act becomes applicable to the workmen exclusively engaged in the mining activity.

In my experience as a Conciliation Officer under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, I found that disputes relating to cement factories are handled by State Government Machinery and mines by Central Government Machinery.

While not stretching this argument/discussion any further, ACC has limestone mines in Chaibasa, Jharkhand. [ACC Resumes Limestone Mining Operations at Bargarh - NDTVProfit.com](http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-acc-resumes-limestone-mining-operations-at-bargarh-772484). Will the Factories Act apply at Chaibasa, or will the Mines Act apply?

Dear Mr. Sharma, Thank you for your interlocutory note, and I appreciate your cross-reference in this regard. Both enactments have the common objective of amending and consolidating the conditions of labor employed therein respectively and ensuring their safety. The overlapping application of both Acts to the same establishment is quite unthinkable and impractical, thereby justifying your remarks.

Probably, the idea of the term 'industry' in the mind of the questioner should have been a cement manufacturing industry. Most cement manufacturers have their mines adjacent to their manufacturing plants. So, it is a holistic question about the various labor laws applicable to the particular cement industry as a whole. However, since my initial reply appeared to be suggestive of the invariable application of the Mines Act, 1952 to all cement manufacturing units, I had to explain it further briefly.

Mr. Nathrao's comments about the classification of the cement manufacturing industries based on Environmental Impact Assessment parameters indicate the application of the Mines Act to cement industries in actual practice. Hence, the rejoinder in my last post, which I feel needs a re-reading.

Another practical example is the Plantation industry coming under the purview of the Plantations Labor Act, 1951. In respect of the factories situated within the area of the plantation, only the Factories Act is exclusively applicable as the definition of "plantation" under section 2(f) excludes a factory situated though situated therewithin.

In the same stretch, I would like to invite your attention to Section 86 of the Mines Act, 1952, which facilitates the application of the Factories Act, 1948 to all mines and the precincts thereof by means of suitable notification.

Regards