Section 53: Power of officers of appropriate Government to impose penalty in certain cases
Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last reviewed 30 August 2026
Allows notified officers to adjudicate specified contraventions and impose monetary penalties after due process.
Principal remaining provisions commenced on 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5322(E), read with the earlier partial commencement; check section-specific footnotes in the current India Code text.
Provision / India Code ↗ · Official Act PDF ↗ · 2026 Central Rules ↗
Finin2min analysis — what the section actually does
Operative clauses
- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 52, for the purpose of imposing penalty under clauses (a) and (c) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 54 and sub-section (7) of section 56, the appropriate Government may appoint any officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India or an officer of equivalent rank in the State Government, as the case may be, for holding…
- (2) While holding the enquiry, the officer referred to in sub-section (1) shall have the power to summon and enforce attendance of any person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case to give evidence or to produce any document, which in the opinion of such officer, may be useful for or relevant to the subject matter of the enquiry and if, on such enquiry, he is satisfied that the person has…
Provisos, explanations & qualifications
- No proviso/explanation was separately extracted from this section text.
Thresholds and timelines in the text
- No explicit day/month/year/hour/percentage/rupee expression was detected in this section text.
Actors expressly appearing in the text
Appropriate Government, Central Government, State Government
Full statutory text — Section 53
53. Power of officers of appropriate Government to impose penalty in certain cases.—(1)
Notwithstanding anything contained in section 52, for the purpose of imposing penalty under clauses (a)
and (c) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 54 and sub-section (7) of section 56, the
appropriate Government may appoint any officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the
Government of India or an officer of equivalent rank in the State Government, as the case may be, for
holding enquiry in such manner, as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
(2) While holding the enquiry, the officer referred to in sub-section (1) shall have the power to
summon and enforce attendance of any person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case to
give evidence or to produce any document, which in the opinion of such officer, may be useful for or
relevant to the subject matter of the enquiry and if, on such enquiry, he is satisfied that the person has
committed any offence under the provisions referred to in sub-section (1), he may impose such penalty as
he thinks fit in accordance with such provisions.How to apply this provision
- Primary statutory test — (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 52, for the purpose of imposing penalty under clauses (a) and (c) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 54 and sub-section (7) of section 56, the appropriate Government may appoint any officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India or an officer of equivalent rank in the State Government, as the case may be, for holding…
- Additional operative limb — (2) While holding the enquiry, the officer referred to in sub-section (1) shall have the power to summon and enforce attendance of any person acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case to give evidence or to produce any document, which in the opinion of such officer, may be useful for or relevant to the subject matter of the enquiry and if, on such enquiry, he is satisfied that the person has…
- Central Rule mapping — 53, 54. Read the mapped provision together with this text rather than treating the concordance as a substitute for it.
- Evidence file — retain facts and records proving the role/status of: Appropriate Government, Central Government, State Government.
Rules, forms and cross-references
Forms mapped
No prescribed form is directly mapped in the current concordance.
Other sections cited in this text
Related Labour Hub resources
A direct concordance is not exhaustive. Central/State jurisdiction, schemes, authority appointments, saved instruments and later notifications may change the practical route without changing the section wording.
Worked example
When an event triggers power of officers of appropriate government to impose penalty in certain cases, record the trigger date, competent authority, prescribed rule/form, filing or decision step, service/acknowledgement and final outcome. A statutory point to test is: “(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 52, for the purpose of imposing penalty under clauses (a) and (c) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 54 and sub-section (7) of section 56, the appropriate Government may appoint any officer not below the rank of Und” Read the mapped Central Rule(s) 53, 54.
Illustration only; it is not statutory text or a substitute for applying the actual facts, jurisdiction, current rule/scheme and official instrument.
Q&A — Section 53
What does Section 53 of the Code on Wages cover?
Allows notified officers to adjudicate specified contraventions and impose monetary penalties after due process.
What is the main legal requirement or power in Section 53?
The first operative clause identified from the official text is: “(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 52, for the purpose of imposing penalty under clauses (a) and (c) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 54 and sub-section (7) of section 56, the appropriate Government may appoint any officer not below the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of India or an officer of equivalent rank in the State Government, as the case may be, for holding…” Read it with the remaining subsections and any proviso below.
Does Section 53 contain a proviso or explanation?
No standalone proviso or explanation was extracted from this section text. Check the full text below for clause-level qualifications.
What time limit, percentage or amount appears in Section 53?
No explicit day/month/year/hour/percentage/rupee expression was detected in the official section text.
Which 2026 Central Rules are linked to Section 53?
The current concordance maps Section 53 to Central Rule(s) 53, 54.
Is Section 53 currently operative?
Principal remaining provisions commenced on 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5322(E), read with the earlier partial commencement; check section-specific footnotes in the current India Code text.
Source & verification trail
Act: Code on Wages, 2019 — official India Code PDF ↗
Central Rules: Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 — G.S.R. 343(E), 8 May 2026 ↗
Official library: Ministry of Labour & Employment — Labour Codes ↗
Source check: 20 August 2026. Individual professional interpretation should be re-reviewed when the section, rules, notification, scheme, State overlay or controlling judgment changes.