Can we hire drivers for company vehicles under contract labour act 1970?

Dear Experts,

We have engaged a few drivers for company goods vehicles and employee transportation through a contractor who has a license for supplying manpower. However, he has not specified the manpower category as drivers in his license. As the principal employer, we have also not mentioned this in our license.

Is there a need for an amendment in licenses? Please share your opinion.

Regards,
Pankaj

As per the CLRA Act, your registration has to reflect the broad areas where contract labour will be deployed. You can apply for an amendment when the deployment starts and deposit the excess fees needed. Similarly, instruct the contractor to also get the driver category included in the license so that they become a specialist agency in that trade as well. These matters may appear trivial, but they carry plenty of importance and could be decisive in the event of an unfortunate episode like accidents.

Dear Pankaj,

The appropriate answer to your query, after a very detailed discussion with reference to case laws, is available in the thread "Contract Labor Act Applicability on services of transportation". Please refer.

Dear Pankaj,

What kind of work order is issued to the contractor on the basis of which he obtained the license? There is no requirement to mention any specific category of manpower. The license only specifies the number and period of validity. Once the license is obtained, one can engage any type of manpower, such as USK, SSK, SK, and HSK (skill categories like driver, operator, or helper), up to the maximum numbers mentioned in the license.

You can issue an additional work order to the contractor for maintenance and manning of the goods vehicles round the clock. Use the wording as necessary for the work.

Thank you.

We can engage Drivers on contractors' role. The only thing I suggest is to let the contractor issue an appointment order to individual drivers on a 'fixed-term contract basis', with specific mention of the client's requirement/place.