Labour Card (BOCW Welfare Board Registration) in Arunachal Pradesh

What is a labour card in Arunachal Pradesh and who issues it?

A labour card in Arunachal Pradesh is membership of the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund, together with the photo identity card the Board issues to every member. The fund and the Board exist under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2006, notified in the Arunachal Pradesh Gazette.

The Board sits under the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. At district level the work is done by the District Labour and Employment Officer: the West Kameng district administration states plainly on its Labour and Employment page that the officer "serves as the assessing officer for the Arunachal Pradesh Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board", alongside inspections, workmen's compensation cases and employment exchange duties. In West Kameng that office is based at Bomdila and also serves Tawang district.

Arunachal Pradesh is one of the states where this registration is still a paper process handled through the Board and the district labour office rather than a self-service web portal. Rule 268 of the 2006 Rules names the destination precisely: an application in Form No. XXVII, to the Secretary of the Board or an officer authorised by him.

Who is eligible for an Arunachal Pradesh labour card and who cannot apply?

Rule 268(1) sets three conditions together.

You can apply if:

• You have completed 18 years of age but not completed 60 years.
• You have completed 90 days of service as a building worker in the year immediately preceding the application. Masonry, carpentry, bar bending, plumbing, electrical work, painting, welding, road and bridge work, stone cutting and unskilled site labour all count as building or other construction work.
• You are not a member of any other welfare fund established under any law in force.

You cannot apply if:

• You are under 18 or 60 or above. Sixty is also the exit point: pension under Rule 274 becomes payable from the first day of the month after a member turns 60.
• You cannot show 90 days of construction work in the preceding year, and cannot get any of the four permitted certificates saying so.
• You are already a member of another statutory welfare fund. The rule bars double membership.
• You work outside building and other construction work. Agricultural labour, shop and establishment work and factory employment are covered by other laws and are not eligible for this fund.

What documents does Arunachal Pradesh ask for?

Rule 268 lists a short, specific set:

• Form XXVII application, plus the registration fee of Rs 25.
• Age proof: school records, or a certificate from the Registrar of Births and Deaths. Where neither exists, a certificate from a Medical Officer not below the rank of Assistant Surgeon in government service, or from a court of law, is accepted. This third route matters in Arunachal Pradesh, where older workers frequently have no birth record.
• A certificate that you are a construction worker, issued by the employer or contractor. If the employer will not issue it, Rule 268(3) accepts a certificate from a registered construction workers' union, from the Labour Officer of the concerned area, or from the Executive Officer of the Municipality or Panchayat.
• Nomination in Form XXVIII. Complete this carefully; death benefit, funeral assistance and refund of accumulated contributions are all paid to the nominee.
• A photograph for the identity card issued under Rule 268(8).

How to apply for a labour card in Arunachal Pradesh

1. Collect the work certificate first. Ask your employer or contractor for a certificate confirming 90 days of construction work in the preceding year. If they refuse, go instead to a registered construction workers' union, the Labour Officer of your area, or the Executive Officer of your Municipality or Panchayat; Rule 268(3) treats all three as valid issuers.
2. Arrange your age proof. School records or a birth certificate from the Registrar of Births and Deaths are the first choices; a certificate from a government Medical Officer of Assistant Surgeon rank or above, or from a court, is the fallback.
3. Fill Form XXVII, the prescribed application, and Form XXVIII, the nomination. Enter the nominee's name, relationship and address exactly as in their own identity documents.
4. Pay the Rs 25 registration fee and submit the form with the documents and a photograph to the Secretary of the Board or the officer authorised by him. In practice, start at your District Labour and Employment Officer, who is the Board's assessing officer in the district.
5. Wait for the decision. Under Rule 268(5), once the Secretary or the authorised officer is satisfied that the applicant fulfils the conditions, the worker is registered as a member.
6. Collect your identity card. Rule 268(8) requires the Secretary to issue every beneficiary an identity card with a photograph affixed, in Form XXXIX, and to maintain a register of cards issued in Form XXX. Check the spelling of your name, your date of birth and your trade before you leave the counter.
7. Start the Rs 20 monthly contribution. Rule 269(1) requires it to be remitted three months at a time, in advance, in a bank specified by the Board. Keep every receipt, this is what proves continuous membership when you later claim a benefit.

There is currently no citizen-facing online registration portal for this in Arunachal Pradesh. The Department of Labour and Employment's site at labour.arunachal.gov.in is the department's own presence; the registration itself runs on paper through the Board and the district office.

How do I keep my Arunachal Pradesh membership alive?

Contributions are the mechanism. A beneficiary contributes Rs 20 per month, remitted quarterly in advance. Under Rule 269(2), a member who defaults continuously for one year ceases to be a beneficiary. Membership can be resumed with the Secretary's permission on payment of arrears plus a fine of Rs 2 per month, but resumption is not allowed more than twice, so a worker who lapses repeatedly can lose the fund permanently.

Employers carry a parallel duty. Rule 270 requires every employer to send the Secretary a monthly return in Form XXXI listing workers entitled to be registered and those who left during the preceding month, which is how the Board cross-checks who should be on the register.

What does the card get you in Arunachal Pradesh?

The 2006 Rules set out the fund's benefits, and they are worth knowing before you decide whether the Rs 25 and Rs 20 a month are worth it:

• Pension at 60 after at least one year as a building worker following commencement of the Rules — Rs 150 per month, with an increase of Rs 10 for every completed year of service beyond five years (Rule 275).
• Family pension to the surviving spouse to 50 per cent of the pension or Rs 100, whichever is higher (Rule 285).
• Disability pension of Rs 150 per month for permanent disability, plus ex gratia up to Rs 5,000 depending on the percentage of disability (Rule 277).
• Death benefit of Rs 15,000, rising to Rs 50,000 where death is due to an accident during the course of employment (Rule 280), and funeral assistance of Rs 1,000 (Rule 279).
• Maternity benefit of Rs 1,000, allowed twice (Rule 273).
• Medical assistance of Rs 200 for the first five days of hospitalisation and Rs 20 for each further day, up to Rs 1,000, with up to Rs 5,000 where accident causes disability (Rule 282).
• Marriage assistance of Rs 2,000 after three years of continuous membership, for up to two children, or for a female member's own marriage (Rule 284).
• Housing advance up to Rs 50,000 after five continuous years of membership (Rule 276) and a tool loan of Rs 5,000 after three years (Rule 278).
• Cash awards of Rs 1,000, Rs 750 and Rs 500 for children scoring highest marks in Class X and XII (Rule 281).

These are the figures in the 2006 Rules as gazetted. Welfare boards revise scheme amounts by resolution over time, so confirm the current rate with the Board or your District Labour and Employment Officer before you plan around any number here.

Why do Arunachal Pradesh applications get rejected?

• No acceptable work certificate, an unsigned or undated letter, or one from someone outside the four categories in Rule 268(3).
• The 90 days fall outside the preceding year. The rule counts the year immediately preceding the application, not construction work at any time in the past.
• Age outside 18 to 60, or age proof that does not match the claim.
• Existing membership of another welfare fund, which Rule 268(1) bars outright.
• Missing nomination in Form XXVIII, which leaves the file incomplete.
• Fee not paid. The Rs 25 must accompany the application.

If registration is refused, Rule 268(6) gives you thirty days to appeal to the Board, and the Board's decision on that appeal is final.

Is the Arunachal Pradesh labour card free, and should I pay an agent?

It is not free, but it is cheap and the amount is fixed by rule: Rs 25 to register, then Rs 20 a month to the fund. Nothing else is payable to anyone. Pay the fee only against a receipt, at the office where you file the form.

Middlemen who offer to "get the card made" for several hundred rupees are selling you form-filling you can get free at the district labour office, and a union or panchayat certificate you are entitled to ask for yourself. Under the Rules, no fee beyond Rs 25 is payable at registration, and no contribution is payable to any private person.

Where do I complain if my Arunachal Pradesh application is stuck?

Start with the District Labour and Employment Officer who is the Board's assessing officer for your district: in West Kameng and Tawang, the office at Bomdila, phone 03782-222077, email dleo-bomdila-arn@nic.in as published by the district administration. Carry a copy of your Form XXVII and the fee receipt.

If the file does not move, escalate to the Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and to the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh. For a refusal rather than a delay, the correct route is the statutory appeal to the Board within thirty days under Rule 268(6): keep the dated order or the intimation you received, because the thirty days runs from it.

How to check your application status

Arunachal Pradesh has no online portal or reference number system for this registration, so there is nothing to track on a website. Status has to be checked by contacting the office that is actually holding your file.

• Ask at the District Labour and Employment Officer's counter first, since Rule 268 routes every Form XXVII application through that office as the Board's assessing officer for the district. Carry your fee receipt and a copy of the form you submitted; the receipt date is what the office will use to locate your file.
• Give it time before you follow up. Rule 268(5) only says the Secretary or authorised officer registers a worker once satisfied the conditions are met; no fixed number of days is set in the Rules, so there is no deadline you can hold the office to. A few weeks is a reasonable gap before asking again.
• Confirm registration through the identity card, not a status message. Under Rule 268(8) the Secretary issues a photo identity card in Form XXXIX to every registered member and records it in a register kept in Form XXXI. If your card has not arrived, that register at the district office is where a clerk can check whether your name was entered and when.
• If the DLEO's office cannot tell you anything, write to the Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, or to the Department of Labour and Employment, quoting the date you filed Form XXVII and the receipt number for the Rs 25 fee.
• A long silence is different from a refusal. If you receive an actual rejection order, the thirty-day appeal window to the Board under Rule 268(6) starts from that order, so keep it dated. If you have simply heard nothing, that clock has not started, and following up in person or by letter at the district office remains the only way to move the file.