(1) Whoever, wilfully obstructs the Facilitator in exercise of any powers conferred on him by or under this Act or refuses or wilfully neglects to afford a Facilitator any reasonable facility for making any inspection, examination, inquiry or investigation authorized by or under this Act in relation to an establishments, shall, on conviction, be punished with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees.
(2) Whoever, wilfully refuses to produce on the demand of a Facilitator any register or other document kept in pursuance of this Act or the rules made thereunder or prevents or attempts to prevent or does anything which he has reason to believe to prevent any person from appearing before, or being examined by, a Facilitator acting in pursuance of his duties under this Act, shall, on conviction, be punished with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees :
Provided that, total amount of fine shall not exceed two thousand rupees per worker employed.
---------------------------------------- 1- Subs. by section 2 of Uttarakhand Act no 12 of 2022.
- 12 - Cognizance of offences 23 (1) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act and the rules made there under unless a complaint in respect thereof is made by the Facilitator within three months of the date on which the alleged commission of the offence came to the knowledge of the Facilitator :
Provided that, where the offence consists of disobeying a written order made by a Facilitator, complaint thereof may be made within six months of the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.
(2) No Court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the First Class shall try any offence punishable under this Act or the rules made there under.
Compounding of offences