Labour Hub › OSHWC Code › Sections › Section 94

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

Section 94: General penalty for offences

Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last reviewed 30 August 2026

Section 94 — Governs general penalty for offences and the rights, duties, powers or procedure expressly stated in this section. Key operative text: Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder…

Full official textSource checked: 20 August 20266 direct Central Rule link(s)

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

Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or standards, the employer or the principal employer of the establishment, as the case may be,…

Provisos, explanations & qualifications

No proviso/explanation was separately extracted from this section text.

Thresholds and timelines in the text

General penalty for offences.—Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or…

Actors expressly appearing in the text

Employer

Full statutory text — Section 94

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.

94. General penalty for offences.—Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in
respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or
rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code
or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or standards, the employer or the principal employer of the
establishment, as the case may be, shall be liable to penalty which shall not be less than two lakhs rupees

but which may extend up to three lakh rupees, and if the contravention is continued after the conviction,
then, with further penalty which may extend to two thousand rupees for each day till such contravention
continues.

How to apply this provision

Primary statutory test — Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or standards, the employer or the principal employer of the establishment, as the case may be,…
Numerical or timing control — General penalty for offences.—Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or…
Central Rule mapping — 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182. Read the mapped provision together with this text rather than treating the concordance as a substitute for it.
Prescribed-form link recorded in the corpus — XXV, XXVI, XXVII. Confirm the current notified form/version before filing.
Evidence file — retain facts and records proving the role/status of: Employer.

Why this is section-specific: the operative-clause, exception, threshold and cross-reference panels above are extracted from Section 94 itself rather than a generic “trigger/control/evidence” template.

Rules, forms and cross-references

Direct 2026 Central Rule mapping

Rule 177 Rule 178 Rule 179 Rule 180 Rule 181 Rule 182

Forms mapped

XXV, XXVI, XXVII

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

When an event triggers general penalty for offences, record the trigger date, competent authority, prescribed rule/form, filing or decision step, service/acknowledgement and final outcome. A statutory point to test is: “General penalty for offences.—Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writ” Read the mapped Central Rule(s) 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182. Use the current notified XXV, XXVI, XXVII where the process requires it.

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 94

What does Section 94 of the OSHWC Code cover?

What is the main legal requirement or power in Section 94?

The first operative clause identified from the official text is: “Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or standards, the employer or the principal employer of the establishment, as the case may be,…” Read it with the remaining subsections and any proviso below.

Does Section 94 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 94?

The provision contains this numerical/time expression: “General penalty for offences.—Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Code, if in, or in respect of, any establishment, there is any contravention of the provisions of this Code or regulations or rules, or bye-laws or any of standards, made thereunder or of any order in writing given under this Code or such regulations or rules or bye-laws or…” Apply it only in the clause and context in which it appears.

Which 2026 Central Rules are linked to Section 94?

The current concordance maps Section 94 to Central Rule(s) 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182.

Is a prescribed form mapped to Section 94?

The current corpus records: XXV, XXVI, XXVII. Confirm the current notified version before filing or service.

Is Section 94 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.