Employee's Provident Funds Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
13. Inspectors
(1) The appropriate government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit to
be Inspectors for the purposes of this Act [, the Scheme [, the [Pension ]
Scheme or the Insurance Scheme]], and may define their jurisdiction.
(2) Any Inspector appointed under sub-section
(1) may, for the purpose of inquiring into the correctness of any information
furnished in connection with this Act or with any [Scheme or the Insurance
Scheme] or for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the provisions of
this Act or of any [Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] have been complied with [
in respect of [an establishment] to which any [Scheme or the Insurance Scheme]
applies or for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act
or any [Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] are applicable to any [establishment]
to which the [Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] has not been applied or for the
purpose of determining whether the conditions subject to which exemption was
granted under section 17 are being complied with by the employer in relation to
an exempted [establishment].
(a) require an
employer [or any contractor from whom any amount is recoverable under section
8A] to furnish such information as he may consider necessary;
(b) at any reasonable
time [and with such assistance, if any, as he may think fit, enter and search]
any [establishment], or any premises connected therewith and require any one
found in charge thereof to produce before him for examination any accounts,
books, registers and other documents relating to the employment of persons or
the payment of wages in the [establishment];
(c) examine, with
respect to any matter relevant to any of the purposes aforesaid, the employer
[or any contractor from whom any amount is recoverable under sections 8A], his
agent or servant or any other person found in charge of the [establishment], or
any premises connected there with or whom the Inspector has reasonable cause to
believe to be or to have been, an employee in the [establishment];
(d) makes copies of,
or take extracts from, any book, register or other document maintained in
relation to the establishment and, where he has reason to believe that any
offence under this Act has been committed by an employer, seize with such
assistance as he may think fit, such book, register or other document or
portions thereof as he may consider relevant in respect of that offence;]
(e) exercise such
other powers as the [Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] may provide.
(2A) Any Inspector appointed under sub-section
(1) may, for the purpose of inquiring into the correctness of any information
furnished in connection with the [Pension] Scheme or for the purpose of
ascertaining whether any of the provisions of this Act or of the [Pension]
Scheme have been complied with in respect of an establishments to which the
[Pension] Scheme applies, exercise all or any of the powers conferred on him
under clause (a), (b), (c) or (d) of sub-s. (2).]
(2B) The provisions of the [Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1898], shall, so far as may be, apply to any search or seizure under
sub-section (2) [or under sub-section (2A), as the case may be,] as they apply
to any search and seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under
[section 98] of the said Code.