Is the Contract Labour Act Mandatory in Tamil Nadu? Seeking Clarity on Employee Requirements

Dear All,

Please confirm if the Contract Labour Act is compulsory in Tamil Nadu or not. If yes, please confirm the minimum number of employees required for this act.

As per my knowledge, the Shop & Establishment Act is not mandatory in Tamil Nadu.

Kindly advise on the above.

Had you mentioned the reasons for your conclusions about the applicability or otherwise of the Acts you mentioned for the State of Tamil Nadu, it would have been easy for others to understand the query in its right perspective. In fact, Tamil Nadu was one among the three Provincial Presidencies of British India to have the Madras Shops and Establishments Act, 1947, covering the entire South. It is quite astonishing how you are influenced to have such a conclusion. I think it would be better to go through the laws first before raising any questions about them and make the question complete with relevant and essential details such as the type of your establishment, the nature of its activities, the number of people employed therein, whether it has branches in more than one state, and the like.

Understanding the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishment Act and Contract Labour Act

I have recently joined a Japanese logistics company in Mumbai, and our branch office is located in Chennai. I do not have much knowledge about the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishment Act and the Contract Labour Act.

In the Chennai office, we have more than 20 staff on the payroll, and currently, there is no registration under the Shops and Establishment Act; however, we are submitting other annual returns. We are now planning to hire contractual manpower from a vendor and would like to know if the Contract Labour Act is applicable in Chennai when the manpower exceeds 10.

Thank you.