With the state government imposing rule regarding compulsory paid holiday for employees of restaurants, commercial establishment, shops and theatres on the election day, any person denied leave can lodge a complaint with the labour department over telephone. The department's office in the city has deployed 12 officers to receive the complaints apart from a two-member flying squad which would conduct surprise checks in the establishments. A complainant can call up these officers directly on their cell phone or the landline (see table). Each officer has been made in-charge of an election constituency in the city.
The Nagpur office of the labour department has 60,000 establishments under its jurisdiction, which includes any unit covered under the Bombay Shops and Establishments Act. The system of receiving complaints was devised as it would be practically impossible to physically monitor each of the units. The complaints would be forwarded to the district collector, who would take further action, said a senior officer in the department. "Erring employers will face action under section 135 of the peoples representation act and the cases will be referred to a civil court," district collector Pravin Darade added.
The process of monitoring would continue even after the election concludes. It may be not easy for an employer to get away with it after flouting the rule. It can always be detected during the routine inspections held during the year. Each inspector has a quota of holding 125 inspections in a year and if a paid holiday is allowed it has to reflect in the muster too. The wages paid for the day have to be shown in the relevant books of accounts, said an officer in the labour department. If any anomaly is found the employer can be pulled up.
In any case the department in relying more on the system of receiving complaints. A worker can report if he is not allowed a paid leave, said the officer. The inspectors would also record statements from the workers specifying that they have been allowed a leave or not.
Meanwhile, essential services like fire brigade or healthcare have been exempted from the rule along with continuous process industries. The continuous process industries include power plants, units having blast furnace, and other units running non-stop basis, an official from Mumbai added.
ConstituencyName of officer Cell-phone No Landline No
West NagpurMr Wankhede94231004132564559
South-west NagpurMr Fating9881309597as above
East NagpurMr Dani9403210723as above
Central NagpurMrs Khobragade9421705937as above
South NagpurMr Kshirsagar9822565510as above
North NagpurMr Gihe9370629013as above
HingnaMr Wankhede 9423100413as above
Saoner Mr Mahajan 9422872016as above
KatolMr Shaikh9765619625as above
UmrerMr Utane9822701407as above
RamtekMr Dekapurvar9881015556as above
KampteeMr Fating9881309597as above