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Unit 1: The Factories Act, 1948

(viii) Power to Make Exempting Rules and Orders Notes

The State Government has been empowered to make rules for granting exemption from the
restrictions imposed with regard to working hours of adults as enumerated above on such
conditions as it may deem necessary.
1.5.2 Employment of Women

Following are the provisions regarding employment of women:

(i) Prohibition of Employment of Women and Children Near Cotton Openers

No woman or child shall be employed in any part of a factory for pressing cotton in which a
cotton-opener is at work;

Provided that if the feed-end of a cotton-opener is in a room separated from the delivery end by
a partition extending to the roof or to such height as the Inspector may in any particular case
specify in writing, women and children may be employed on the side of the partition where the
feed-end is situated.

(ii) Restrictions on Employment of Women

The provisions of this shall, in their application to women in factories, be supplemented by the
following further restrictions, namely:-
 no exemption from the provisions of section 54 may be granted in respect of any women;
 no woman shall be [required or allowed to work in any factory] except between the hours
of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Provided that the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, in respect
of [any factory or group or class or description of factories,] vary the limits laid down in clause
(b), but so that no such variation shall authorize the employment of any woman between the
hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The State Government may make rules providing for the exemption from the restrictions set out
in sub-section (1), to such extent and subject to such conditions as it may prescribe, of women
working in fish curing or fish-canning factories, where the employment of women beyond the
hours specified in the said restrictions is necessary to prevent damage to or deterioration in, any
raw material. The rules made under sub-section (2) shall remain in force for not more than three
years at a time.

1.5.3 Employment of Children

Following are the provisions regarding employment of children:

(i) Prohibition of Employment of Children and Adolescents

No factory can employ any person unless he has completed fourteen years of age (Section 67).
Thus there is total prohibition in employing children below 14 years of age. With regard to
adolescent, i.e., above the age of 15 years but below 18 years, he too cannot be employed in a
factory unless (i) he as well as the manager of a factory are in possession of certificates of fitness
granted by the Certifying Surgeon and (ii) the adolescent carries with him while at work a token
giving a reference to such certificate issued to him. (Section 68)

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