Factories Act, 1948

Section 71. Working hours for children. –

(1) No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any factory-

(a) for more than four and a half hours in any day;

(b) during the night.

Explanation. – For the purpose of this sub-section “night” shall mean a period of at least twelve consecutive hours which shall include the interval between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M.

(2) The period of work of all children employed in a factory shall be limited to two shifts which shall not overlap or spreadover more than five hours each; and each child shall be employed in only one of the relays which shall not, except with the previous permission in writing of the Chief Inspector, be changed more frequently than once in a period of thirty days.

(3) The provisions of section 52 shall apply also to child workers and no exemption from the provisions of that section may be granted in respect of any child.

(4) No child shall be required or allowed to work in any factory on any day on which he has already been working in another factory.

(5) No female child shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between 8 A.M. and 7 P.M.

Section 72. Notice of period of work for children. –

(1) There shall be displayed and correctly maintained in every factory in which children are employed, in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 108, a notice of periods of work for children, showing clear}y for every day the periods during which children may be required or allowed to work.

(2) The periods shown in the notice required by sub-section (1) shall be fixed beforehand in accordance with the method laid down for adult workers in section 61, and shall be such that children working for those periods would not be working in contravention of any of the provisions of section 71.

(3) The provisions of sub-sections (8), (9) and (10) of section 61 shall apply also to the notice required by sub-section (1) of this section.

Section 73. Register of child workers. –

(1) The manager of every factory in which children are employed shall maintain a register of child workers, to be available to the Inspector at all times during working hours or when any work is being carried on in a factory, showing –

(a) the name of each child worker in the factory,

(b) the nature of his work,

(c) the group, if any, in which he is included,

(d) where his group works on shifts, the relay to which he is allotted, and

(e) the number of his certificate of fitness granted under section 69.

(1A) No child worker shall be required or allowed to work in any factory unless his name and other particulars have been entered in the register of child workers.

(2) The State Government may prescribe the form of the register of child workers, the manner in which it shall be maintained and the period for which it shall be preserved.

Section 74. Hours of work to correspond with notice under section 72 and register under section 73. –

No child shall be employed in any factory otherwise than in accordance with the notice of periods of work for children displayed in the factory and the entries made beforehand against his name in the register of child workers of the factory.

Section 75. Power to require medical examination. –

Where an Inspector is of opinion –

(a) that any person working in factory without a certificate of fitness is a young person, or

(b) that a young person working in a factory with a certificate of fitness is no longer fit to work in the capacity stated therein, –

he may serve on the manager of the factory a notice requiring that such person or young person, as the case may be shall be, examined by a certifying surgeon, and such person or young person shall not, if the Inspector so directs, be employed, or permitted to work, in any factory until he has been so examined and has been granted a certificate of fitness or a fresh certificate of fitness, as the case may be, under section 69, or has been certified by the certifying surgeon examining him not to be a young person.

Factories Act, 1948
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