Section 2:
Definitions.
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--
(a) "appropriate Government" means,--
(i) in relation to an establishment (which employs building workers either directly or through
a contractor) in respect of which the appropriate Government under the Industrial Disputes Act,
1947 (14 of 1947), is the Central Government, the Central Government;
(ii) in relation to any such establishment, being a public sector undertaking, as the Central
Government may by notification specify which employs building workers either directly or
through a contractor, the Central Government;
Explanation.--For the purposes of sub-clause (ii), "public sector undertaking" means any
corporation established by or under any Central, State or Provincial Act or a Government
company as defined in section 617 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) which is owned,
controlled or managed by the Central Government;
(iii) in relation to any other establishment which employs building workers either directly or
through a contractor, the Government of the State in which that other establishment is situate;
(b) "beneficiary" means a building worker registered under section 12;
(c) "Board" means a Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board constituted under
sub-section (1) of section 18;
(d) "building or other construction work" means the construction, alteration, repairs, maintenance
or demolition, of or, in relation to, buildings, streets, roads, railways, tramways, airfields, irrigation,
drainage, embankment and navigation works, flood control works (including storm water drainage
works), generation, transmission and distribution of power, water works (including channels for
distribution of water), oil and gas installations, electric lines, wireless, radio, television, telephone,
telegraph and overseas communications, dams, canals, reservoirs, watercourses, tunnels, bridges,
viaducts, aqueducts, pipelines, towers, cooling towers, transmission towers and such other work as
may be specified in this behalf by the appropriate Government, by notification but does not include any building or other construction work to which the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948
(63 of 1948), or the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952), apply;
(e) "building worker" means a person who is employed to do any skilled, semi-skilled or
unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of
employment be expressed or implied, in connection with any building or other construction work but
does not include any such person--
(i) who is employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity; or
(ii) who, being employed in a supervisory capacity, draws wages exceeding one thousand six
hundred rupees per mensem or exercises, either by the nature of the duties attached to the office
or by reason of the powers vested in him, functions mainly of a managerial nature;
(f) "Chief Inspector" means the Chief Inspector of Inspection of Building and Construction
appointed under sub-section (2) of section 42;
(g) "contractor" means a person who undertakes to produce a given result for any establishment,
other than a mere supply of goods or articles of manufacture, by the employment of building workers
or who supplies building workers for any work of the establishment; and includes a sub-contractor;
(h) "Director-General" means the Director-General of Inspection appointed under sub-section (1)
of section 42;
(i) "employer", in relation to an establishment, means the owner thereof, and includes,--
(i) in relation to a building or other construction work carried on by or under the authority of
any department of the Government, directly without any contractor, the authority specified in this
behalf, or where no authority is specified, the head of the department;
(ii) in relation to a building or other construction work carried on by or on behalf of a local
authority or other establishment, directly without any contractor, the chief executive officer of
that authority or establishment;
(iii) in relation to a building or other construction work carried on by or through a contractor,
or by the employment of building workers supplied by a contractor, the contractor;
(j) "establishment" means any establishment belonging to, or under the control of, Government,
any body corporate or firm, an individual or association or other body of individuals which or who
employs building workers in any building or other construction work; and includes an establishment
belonging to a contractor, but does not include an individual who employs such workers in any
building or construction work in relation to his own residence the total cost of such construction not
being more than rupees ten lakhs;
(k) "Fund" means the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Fund of a Board
constituted under sub-section (1) of section 24;
(l) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(m) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act by the Central Government or, as
the case may be, the State Government;
(n) "wages" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (vi) of section 2 of the
Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936).
(2) Any reference in this Act to any law which is not in force in any area shall, in relation to that area,
be construed as a reference to the corresponding law, if any, in force in that area.