Only where its standing orders, or its terms with workers and contractors, provide for it. The Industrial Relations Code 2020 lists "requirement to enter premises by certain gates, and liability to search" among the matters standing orders cover, but the Model Standing Orders 2026 for manufacturing contain no search clause. A site that wants one has to write it into its own standing orders, and into its contracts for contract crews.
Where the right to search comes from
From the standing orders, for an establishment big enough to need them. Item 6 of the First Schedule to the IR Code names gate entry and liability to search as one of eleven matters standing orders provide for, and section 30(6) treats standing orders as certifiable only if they cover every First Schedule matter that applies to the establishment. The chapter applies from 300 workers on any day of the preceding twelve months (s.28(1)); below that there are no standing orders, and gate rules rest on appointment terms and site rules.
The Model Standing Orders made under the old Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946 included a search clause, with women searched only by women [VERIFY: wording of the repealed model standing orders; not re-read for this piece]. The 2026 model orders that replaced them do not.
What the 2026 model orders actually say
Three orders in the manufacturing schedule touch the gate, and none of them is a search clause:
| Order | What it requires |
|---|---|
| 3. Identity badge or card | Every worker is issued a badge or card with name, designation, employee number, blood group, contact details and photograph, wears it during working hours, produces it to the authorised security guard "for the purpose of entry and stay in the premises", and surrenders it on leaving |
| 19. Secrecy | No worker takes papers, drawings, instruments, documents or other property of the establishment out of the premises without written permission from an immediate superior; breach is misconduct |
| 23. Misconduct | Theft, fraud or dishonesty in connection with the employer's business or property is misconduct (item (a)), dealt with through the disciplinary procedure |
A site that adopts the model orders unchanged therefore has an entry rule and a rule against taking property out, but no written right to search [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette copy of S.O. 2312(E); read here from a mirrored copy]. Adding one means certifying standing orders of its own or modifying the adopted ones, through the certifying officer, who may adjudicate on whether the provision is fair and reasonable (s.30(4) and (7)). Certified standing orders cannot be modified for six months without agreement (s.35(1)).
How sites run searches in practice
Where a search provision exists, it is usually written to be applied the same way to everyone and documented each time. The common elements are practice, not statute:
- At exit, by designated security staff, not by line supervisors.
- Women searched only by women, out of public view.
- Everyone or a stated random selection, never one worker singled out without a recorded reason.
- A refusal handled as a disciplinary matter, under the standing orders, not by force or by withholding exit.
- A register of searches, recording time, staff, and anything found.
Whether a particular search procedure is lawful and proportionate on a given site is for its counsel to settle before it is used.
How it reaches a contract crew
Through the contract, not the site's standing orders. A contractor's crew is employed by the contractor, which section 2(m)(iii) of the IR Code counts as an employer, and the site's standing orders classify only its own workers. Gate rules that apply to everyone on the premises reach a contract crew through the site's agreement with the contractor and the contractor's own terms with its workers.
What a site should put in place
- Check what the standing orders say, whether certified or adopted from the model, and whether gate entry and search are covered at all.
- Write the gate rule into contractor agreements: badges, designated gates, and any search procedure, with the contractor responsible for telling its crew.
- Badge every worker on the premises against the company that pays them, so the gate register shows who employs whom.
- Keep property controls documentary: gate passes for anything leaving the site, which order 19 already supports, rather than relying on searches.
- Train security staff on the written procedure, and keep the search register where an inspector or tribunal can see it.
How Velura Services helps
We brief every contract crew on your site rules at induction, including gate checks, and align our conduct expectations with your standing orders. Where a site needs a search procedure, we help you write it down and apply it the same way to our crew as to your own staff.
Sources
- Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (Act 35 of 2020), Gazette of India Extraordinary, 29 September 2020 — s.2(m) (employer includes contractor), s.28(1) (300-worker threshold), s.30(4), (6) and (7) (modifications, certifiability, fairness), s.35(1) (six-month bar on modification), First Schedule item 6 (gate entry and liability to search). Opened and read.
- Model Standing Orders, 2026, S.O. 2312(E) dated 8 May 2026 — Schedule B (manufacturing sector): order 3 (identity badge or card), order 19 (secrecy), order 23 (misconduct, item (a)). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].
- Industrial Relations (Central) Rules, 2026, Gazette of India, 8 May 2026 — r.10 (adoption of the Model Standing Orders and deemed certification). Opened and read.