Labour Hub › OSHWC Code › Sections › Section 119

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

Section 119: Common licence for contractor, factories and to industrial premises, etc.

Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last reviewed 30 August 2026

Section 119 — Governs common licence for contractor, factories and to industrial premises, etc. and the rights, duties, powers or procedure expressly stated in this section. Key operative text: (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, any person desirous of obtaining common licence in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination…

Full official textSource checked: 20 August 20265 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

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, any person desirous of obtaining common licence in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code shall make an application electronically or otherwise to such authority as may be designated, by notification, by the appropriate…
(2) The application under sub-section (1),— (a) shall be in such form and filed in such manner and accompanied by such fee and contain such information as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government;
(3) On receipt of an application under sub-section (1), the authority referred to in that sub-section shall take such actions in such manner and make such inquiry as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government.
(4) Where the authority referred to in sub-section (1) is satisfied that the common licence may be issued in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code, such authority shall issue a licence electronically within forty-five days of the receipt of application failing which the…
Provided that where the licence is deemed to be issued, no further inquiry shall be made:

Provisos, explanations & qualifications

Provided that where the licence is deemed to be issued, no further inquiry shall be made:

Thresholds and timelines in the text

(4) Where the authority referred to in sub-section (1) is satisfied that the common licence may be issued in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code, such authority shall issue a licence electronically within…
(6) Any person aggrieved by an order passed under this section by the authority referred to in sub-section (1) may file, within thirty days from the date of the order, an appeal in such form, accompanied with such fee to such appellate authority as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government and the appeal shall be disposed of electronically within…

Actors expressly appearing in the text

Worker, Appropriate Government, Authority / officer

Full statutory text — Section 119

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.

119. Common licence for contractor, factories and to industrial premises, etc.—(1)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, any person desirous of obtaining common licence in
respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or
any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code shall make an application
electronically or otherwise to such authority as may be designated, by notification, by the appropriate
Government.
   (2) The application under sub-section (1),—
      (a) shall be in such form and filed in such manner and accompanied by such fee and contain such
   information as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government;
       (b) shall, in so far as it relates to the licence for engaging contract labours, contain the number of
   inter-State migrant workers employed.
   (3) On receipt of an application under sub-section (1), the authority referred to in that sub-section shall
take such actions in such manner and make such inquiry as may be prescribed by the appropriate
Government.
    (4) Where the authority referred to in sub-section (1) is satisfied that the common licence may be
issued in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract
workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code, such authority
shall issue a licence electronically within forty-five days of the receipt of application failing which the
licence shall be deemed to be issued and shall be auto generated and the responsibility of such failure
shall be on such authority:
   Provided that where the licence is deemed to be issued, no further inquiry shall be made:
   Provided further that the form of licence shall, as far as practicable, be similar throughout India:
    Provided also that where such authority rejects the application he shall assign the reason for such
rejection.
   (5) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, any licence in respect of a factory, industrial
premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract labour has been obtained under any Central
labour law before the commencement of this Code, in respect of any establishment shall be deemed to
have been obtained under the provisions of this Code and shall be valid for the period for which it was
issued and shall have to be obtained afresh after its expiration.
   (6) Any person aggrieved by an order passed under this section by the authority referred to in
sub-section (1) may file, within thirty days from the date of the order, an appeal in such form,
accompanied with such fee to such appellate authority as may be prescribed by the appropriate
Government and the appeal shall be disposed of electronically within thirty days of the filing of the
appeal.

How to apply this provision

Primary statutory test — (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, any person desirous of obtaining common licence in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code shall make an application electronically or otherwise to such authority as may be designated, by notification, by the appropriate…
Additional operative limb — (2) The application under sub-section (1),— (a) shall be in such form and filed in such manner and accompanied by such fee and contain such information as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government;
Qualification / exception to test — Provided that where the licence is deemed to be issued, no further inquiry shall be made:
Numerical or timing control — (4) Where the authority referred to in sub-section (1) is satisfied that the common licence may be issued in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code, such authority shall issue a licence electronically within…
Central Rule mapping — 87, 88, 89, 90, 96. 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 — XXI, XXII. Confirm the current notified form/version before filing.

Why this is section-specific: the operative-clause, exception, threshold and cross-reference panels above are extracted from Section 119 itself rather than a generic “trigger/control/evidence” template.

Rules, forms and cross-references

Direct 2026 Central Rule mapping

Rule 87 Rule 88 Rule 89 Rule 90 Rule 96

Forms mapped

XXI, XXII

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 common licence for contractor, factories and to industrial premises, etc., 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: “(4) Where the authority referred to in sub-section (1) is satisfied that the common licence may be issued in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under” Also test the express qualification/proviso before concluding the result. Read the mapped Central Rule(s) 87, 88, 89, 90, 96. Use the current notified XXI, XXII 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 119

What does Section 119 of the OSHWC Code cover?

What is the main legal requirement or power in Section 119?

The first operative clause identified from the official text is: “(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Code, any person desirous of obtaining common licence in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code shall make an application electronically or otherwise to such authority as may be designated, by notification, by the appropriate…” Read it with the remaining subsections and any proviso below.

Does Section 119 contain a proviso or explanation?

Yes. A qualification extracted from the official text is: “Provided that where the licence is deemed to be issued, no further inquiry shall be made:”

What time limit, percentage or amount appears in Section 119?

The provision contains this numerical/time expression: “(4) Where the authority referred to in sub-section (1) is satisfied that the common licence may be issued in respect of a factory, industrial premises for beedi and cigar work and for engaging contract workers or any combination thereof or single licence for any one of them under this Code, such authority shall issue a licence electronically within…” Apply it only in the clause and context in which it appears.

Which 2026 Central Rules are linked to Section 119?

The current concordance maps Section 119 to Central Rule(s) 87, 88, 89, 90, 96.

Is a prescribed form mapped to Section 119?

The current corpus records: XXI, XXII. Confirm the current notified version before filing or service.

Is Section 119 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.