Report No. 62

1A.21. Employments covered by the Act.-

We now come to the employments covered by the Act, listed in the Second Schedule. It would appear that the various categories of employment, listed in the Second Schedule to the Act, broadly share a common feature, namely, that the employments mentioned are comparatively more hazardous than employments not listed in the Schedule. No doubt, where the Second Schedule includes an employment on the ground of the number of persons employed, it seems to take into account also the economic status of the employer, the obvious assumption being that if a large number of persons is employed, the employer would be prosperous enough and would have capacity to pay. The principle of hazardous employment is also the basis of the power given to the State Government under section 2(3) to add, to the Scheduled, any class of persons employed in any occupation which the State Government is satisfied is a "hazardous occupation".