Dear Raja,
The extracts of the sections under the Interstate Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service ) Act,1979 you quoted in the query are as follows:
"Sec.14 Displacement Allowance. - (1) There shall be paid by the contractor to every Inter-state Migrant Workman at the time of recruitment, a displacement allowance equal to fifty percent of the monthly wages payable to him or seventy five rupees, whichever is higher.
(2) The amount paid to a workman as displacement allowance under subsection (1) shall not be refundable and shall be in addition to wages or other amounts payable to him."
"15 Journey allowance etc.- A journey allowance of a sum not less than the fare from the place residence of the inter-State migrant workman in his state to the place of work in the other state shall be payable to by the contractor to the workman both for the outward and return journeys and such workman shall be entitled to payment of wages during such journeys as if he were on duty."
Both the sections have been drafted in very simple words. As such I am unable to understand the level of your difficulty. Anyway, let me try to explain the way I understand both the sections with reference to the back ground of this passing this legislation as expressed in its Statement of Objects and Reasons. Simply put, inter-State migrant labor is another form of the indirect contract labor prevalent in many states in the northern parts of India styled as dadan labor through agents or contractors or sardars or khatedars. These agents recruited required labor from the home state and send them to some other states ( host states)where their services are needed. All sorts of exploitation happened in the forms of lesser wages than promised, illegal deductions by way of exorbitant interest on the advances paid by the sardars, denial of employment benefits like leave, overtime wages, proper shelters.Thus, the past liabilities of these migrant workmen remained forever and started keeping them under a disguised form of bonded labor. Hence the Act was passed by the Parliament.
Section 18 of the Act imposes vicarious liability on the part of the principal employer for the payment of the above said allowances.