Is BOCW Registration Necessary for Off-Site Iron Girder Fabrication? Seeking Advice

Dear All,

We are in the construction industry, and currently, our job primarily involves fabricating iron girders at different locations with different vendor factories.

Is the BOCW Act applicable or not?

Fact: The client is requesting BOCW registration; however, we are only fabricating and supplying the girders at various locations.

Kindly assist us in this regard.

Regards,
Alok Kumar

Exclusion of Construction Activities in Factory Premises

Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act has excluded construction activities in factory premises that are part of a factory covered by the Factories Act. It is still disputed whether construction activities in all factory premises fall within the exclusion part of the Act or not. Please follow the link for further understanding.

http://madhu-t-k.blogspot.com/2021/1...s-towards.html

Who is Responsible for Paying the Cess?

Now the question is, when you are involved in just the supply and/or erection of fabricated materials, then who is the builder who constructs it? My questions are:

(1) If the occupier (i.e., the factory owner) is constructing the building himself, then he should pay the cess as mandated by the BOCW Act.

(2) If there is any contractor/builder who undertakes to build the factory building as per the plan approved by the factory owner, then it shall become the responsibility of the builder to pay the required cess (one percent of the cost of construction). It will become the factory owner's responsibility only when the builder fails to pay it to the government.

Are you supplying the materials to the factory (1 above) directly, or are they billed to any builder mentioned above (2)? Under both scenarios, if your job is to supply fabricated materials, how can the factory ask you to get registration under the BOCW Act? It is true if you also do the erection work because the cess is payable not for the material supplied but for the labor involved. At the same time, if your workers who do the work of erection are covered by ESI, EPF, and other social security laws, how does the BOCW Act apply to you?

The description you provided indicates that you are not involved in any construction work. Your present work involves the fabrication of steel girders, trusses, and other items required in construction work. You are supplying these fabricated materials to different clients. Thus, the B&OCW Act is not applicable. Rather, the unit has to register under the Factories Act.