Canteen Employees - Their Status
By
Brij Mohan Mundra
The occupier of a Factory employing more than two hundred fifty workers is under an obligation to provide a Canteen for the use of its workers under S. 46 of the Factories Act, 1948. The State Government are further empowered to make rules to regulate the running of the Canteens as regards construction, accommodation, furniture, foodstuffs, expenditure to be incurred and prepare auditing of accounts — Constitution of Managing Committee and the rates to be charged. Ordinarily the Canteen is to be run on no loss-no-profit basis unless it is run by a Co-operative Society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act and in that event it could charge a profit up to 5% of its working capital employed in running the Canteen. A Canteen must have a Managing Committee but this requirement shall not be insisted upon in the event of a Canteen being run by a Co-operative Society registered under the relevant provisions of law. In the given circumstances, therefore, an occupier of a fact ....