Almost anything that relates to the workplace. Section 35 of the OSH Code 2020 lets an Inspector-cum-Facilitator enter, examine, question, require the production of "any register or any other document relating to the workplace or work activity", and seize records where an offence is suspected. Anyone asked is legally bound to produce. The Code also gives most employers thirty days to put a first lapse right before any prosecution.
What the inspector can do
Fourteen things, listed in section 35(1), subject to any rules made under it. The ones a site meets in practice are these:
| Power | Section |
|---|---|
| Enter any place used, or believed to be used, as a workplace, with government staff or an expert | s.35(1)(i) |
| Inspect and examine the establishment, premises, plant, machinery and any relevant material | s.35(1)(ii) |
| Inquire into any accident or dangerous occurrence, injury or not, and take statements on the spot | s.35(1)(iii) |
| Require the production of any register or other document relating to the workplace or work activity | s.35(1)(vi) |
| Search, seize or copy registers and records where an offence is believed to have been committed | s.35(1)(vii) |
| Direct that premises or anything in them be left undisturbed for an inspection or inquiry | s.35(1)(viii) |
| Take measurements, photographs and video recordings | s.35(1)(ix) |
| Take samples of substances and of the air in or around the premises | s.35(1)(x) |
| Issue a show cause notice on safety, health and welfare provisions | s.35(1)(xii) |
| Prosecute, conduct or defend proceedings under the Code | s.35(1)(xiii) |
Two sentences after the list do most of the work. Section 35(2) says anyone required to produce a document or give information is "deemed to be legally bound to do so", and section 35(3) applies the Code of Criminal Procedure to a search or seizure as if it were made under a warrant. The list also includes a duty that is easy to overlook: to "supply information and sensitise the employers and workers" about the Code (s.35(1)(v)). The "Facilitator" in the title is meant.
How a site gets picked
Increasingly by a computer, not by a complaint. Section 34(3) lets the appropriate government lay down an inspection scheme that generates web-based inspections, calls for information electronically, and provides for "the randomised selection of establishment and the Inspector-cum-Facilitator for inspection". Section 34(4) says the scheme may give each establishment a unique number, the same as its registration number under section 3, give each inspector and each inspection a number, and require inspection reports to be uploaded on time.
The practical effect is that an inspection can arrive without anything having gone wrong, and the first contact may be an electronic call for information rather than a knock at the gate [VERIFY: how far the State's scheme has been notified and put into operation]. Inspections still follow accidents and complaints; the scheme adds a random draw to them.
The records asked for first
The registers the Code tells every employer to keep. Section 33 requires a register of workers covering work performed, normal hours, the weekly rest day, wages and receipts, leave, leave wages, overtime, attendance and dangerous occurrences, plus notices displayed at the workplace, wage slips, and returns. Rule 72 of the OSH (Central) Rules 2026 sets the forms:
| Record | Form | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Employee register | Form XIII | r.72(1)(i) |
| Attendance register-cum-muster roll | Form XIV | r.72(1)(ii) |
| Register of wages, overtime and deductions | Form XV | r.72(1)(iii) |
| Wage slip, issued electronically on or before the day wages are paid | Form XVI | r.72(2) |
| Notice of periods of work, displayed and copied to the inspector | Form XII | r.71 |
| Register of accidents and dangerous occurrences | Form XIX | r.75 |
| Register of leave with wages | Form XX | r.76 |
Rule 72 adds three conditions that decide whether the registers help or hurt on the day. They may be kept electronically or on paper; entries must be in English or Hindi and in the local language; and they must be produced on demand and preserved in original for five calendar years from the last entry. Where a site already keeps the registers and wage slips required under the Code on Wages rules, rule 72(3) treats those as meeting this rule too, so one set can serve both [VERIFY: Central Rules read from a mirrored Gazette copy; a Tamil Nadu establishment follows the State's forms once its rules are final].
What happens after the visit
Usually a notice and a deadline, not a prosecution. Section 110(1) says the Inspector-cum-Facilitator shall not start a prosecution against an employer for an offence without first giving "an opportunity to comply with relevant provisions … within a period of thirty days", and if the employer complies, no proceeding is started. The opportunity is not given after an accident, or where a violation of the same nature is repeated within three years of the first. Any complaint has to be filed within six months of the offence coming to the inspector's knowledge (s.110(2)).
The heavier figure is worth noticing. A missing or late register draws a penalty of ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh under section 99, twice the general penalty under section 97, and a false record is a separate offence under section 98, punishable with up to three months' imprisonment or a fine of up to ₹1 lakh. Section 114 lets many penalties be settled without prosecution: a penalty for half its maximum and an offence for three-quarters of its maximum fine. A section 99 penalty, for example, compounds at ₹1 lakh. Whether compounding or contesting is right on particular facts is for the site's own counsel.
When the crew is a contractor's
The contractor keeps its own workers' registers, but the inspector asks at the site. Section 2(u) of the Code includes the contractor in the definition of employer, and rule 72 places the register duty on "every employer", so the employee register, muster roll, wage register and wage slips for a contract crew are the contractor's to keep. Section 35(1)(vi), though, lets the inspector require any document "relating to the workplace or work activity" at the workplace. A site that can only say "the contractor has those" at the gate has not produced them.
- Hold a current copy on site. The contractor's registers for the crew on the floor, the latest wage slips, the PF and ESI challans and the contractor's licence, in one pack that is updated monthly.
- Reconcile before the inspector does. The muster roll against the gate register, and the wage register against the minimum rate for the site's employment. Gaps found by the site cost less than gaps found by the inspector.
- Keep the site's own records separate and current. The accident register, the notice of periods of work and the site's own employees' registers are the site's, whatever the contractor holds.
- Answer, don't argue, on the day. Production is a legal duty under section 35(2). If a record is genuinely with the contractor, say where, say when it will be produced, and produce it.
How responsibility for a particular gap is shared between site and contractor is a question for the contract and the site's counsel. The inspector's question on the day is simpler: can the record be produced.
How Velura Services helps
We keep registers, wage slips, challans and licences for every crew current, and can produce them on the day of an inspection. Our team supports your site through the visit and the thirty-day window afterwards, so any gap found is closed from records that already exist.
Sources
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI — s.2(u) (employer, including contractor), s.33 (registers, notices, wage slips, returns), s.34(3) and (4) (web-based and randomised inspection scheme), s.35 (powers of Inspector-cum-Facilitators; duty to produce; search and seizure), s.97 (general penalty), s.98 (false records), s.99 (omission to furnish records), s.110 (opportunity to comply; six-month limitation), s.114 (compounding). Opened and read.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026 — r.71 (Form XII), r.72 (Forms XIII to XVI; language; production on demand; five-year retention; r.72(3) equivalence with Code on Wages registers), r.75 (Form XIX), r.76 (Form XX). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].