Labour Hub › OSHWC Code › Sections › Section 86

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 · XI

Section 86: National Board to inquire into certain situations

Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last Reviewed 12 September 2026

Section 86 — Governs national board to inquire into certain situations and the rights, duties, powers or procedure expressly stated in this section. Key operative text: (2) The recommendations of the National Board shall be advisory in the nature.

Full official textSource checked: 20 August 20260 direct Central Rule link(s)

2-minute answer

Section 86: National Board to inquire into certain situations explained with current labour-code/scheme context, eligibility or compliance steps, records to retain.

Current-law check: Reviewed for source/currentness on 12 September 2026. Re-check any later notification, circular, amendment, rate, deadline or portal instruction before acting.

How to use this page

Section 86: National Board to inquire into certain situations should be read with the operative Code/Scheme/Rules and the establishment or employee facts to which it applies. Coverage, wage base, service history, State overlay and commencement date can change the outcome.

Practical checklist

Confirm coverage of the establishment and employee/member before applying the provision.
Check the latest Gazette, corrigendum and portal/circular instructions for the relevant date.
Retain wage/service/member data, nominations, approvals, challans/returns and acknowledgements.
Where a State rule or establishment-specific exemption applies, document that overlay separately.

Worked use case

Example: the same employee event can produce a different compliance result if the establishment is exempt, the service period is different, or the operative rule changed after the relevant date. Record those facts before calculating the benefit or obligation.

Official-source checks

Related Finin2min guidance

Reviewed for currentness: 12 September 2026. Educational/professional reference; the controlling law, notification, order or official filing instruction prevails.

Current-law status

All provisions were brought into force from 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5321(E), subject to the Central/State appropriate-Government split and provision-specific appointments/notifications.

Primary sources

Provision / India Code ↗ · Official Act PDF ↗ · 2026 Central Rules ↗

Finin2min analysis — what the section actually does

Operative clauses

(2) The recommendations of the National Board shall be advisory in the nature.

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

Worker, Central Government, State Government

Full statutory text — Section 86

Official English text transcribed from the current India Code consolidation; page headers/line breaks are normalised for web reading. The Gazette/India Code PDF remains authoritative for typography, amendment footnotes and schedules.

86. National Board to inquire into certain situations.—(1) The Central Government may, in the
event of the occurrence of an extraordinary situation involving a factory engaged in a hazardous process,
direct the National Board to inquire into the standards of health and safety observed in the factory with a
view to finding out the causes of any failure or neglect in the adoption of any measures or standards
prescribed by the State Government for the health and safety of the workers employed in the factory or
the general public affected, or likely to be affected due to such failure or neglect and for the prevention of
recurrence of such extraordinary situations in future in such factory or elsewhere. (2) The recommendations of the National Board shall be advisory in the nature.

How to apply this provision

Primary statutory test — (2) The recommendations of the National Board shall be advisory in the nature.
Evidence file — retain facts and records proving the role/status of: Worker, Central Government, State Government.

Why this is section-specific: the operative-clause, exception, threshold and cross-reference panels above are extracted from Section 86 itself rather than a generic “trigger/control/evidence” template.

Rules, forms and cross-references

Direct 2026 Central Rule mapping

None expressly mapped in the current concordance.

Forms mapped

No prescribed form is directly mapped in the current concordance.

Other sections cited in this text

None expressly mapped in the current concordance.

Related Labour Hub resources

State overlays Forms Labour litigation

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

For an establishment affected by national board to inquire into certain situations, the compliance owner should identify the applicable sector and authority, document the prescribed control/notice/record and retain inspection or training evidence. A text point to test is: “(2) The recommendations of the National Board shall be advisory in the nature.”

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 86

What does Section 86 of the OSHWC Code cover?

What is the main legal requirement or power in Section 86?

The first operative clause identified from the official text is: “(2) The recommendations of the National Board shall be advisory in the nature.” Read it with the remaining subsections and any proviso below.

Does Section 86 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 86?

No explicit day/month/year/hour/percentage/rupee expression was detected in the official section text.

Which 2026 Central Rules are linked to Section 86?

No direct Central Rule is recorded in the current concordance. That does not exclude a relevant scheme, notification, State rule or enabling provision.

Is Section 86 currently operative?

All provisions were brought into force from 21 November 2025 under S.O. 5321(E), subject to the Central/State appropriate-Government split and provision-specific appointments/notifications.

Source & verification trail

Act: Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — official India Code PDF ↗

Central Rules: Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026 — G.S.R. 345(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.

Reliance note: This page is an educational legal-reference layer. Verify the current official text, the applicable Central/State rules, notifications, schemes and judicial decisions before acting on a live matter.