The Centre on Thursday said no legal action would be taken against the CEO of a company if an employee tests coronavirus-positive, nor would the factory be sealed.
It warned against the misuse of the revised lockdown guidelines to harass the management of any manufacturing or commercial establishment.
In a letter to the chief secretaries of all the states and Union Territories, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said a few companies with manufacturing facilities had expressed fears in the media based on misinterpretation of the guidelines.
He cited three misapprehensions:
- The states may prosecute or imprison a CEO if a Covid-19-positive employee is found in the factory;
- The factory premises will be sealed for 3 months;
- A factory that has failed to take precautions may be closed down for two days and allowed to restart only after full compliance.
“I would like to clarify that there is no such clause in the consolidated revised guidelines and therefore there is no basis for such misplaced apprehensions,” Bhalla wrote.
The consolidated revised guidelines were issued on April 15, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3.
Modi had said certain industrial activities would be allowed in some areas after April 20. The guidelines specified the details of such exempted activities and the associated terms and conditions.
Sections of industry, including exporters, have expressed concern about the penal provisions in the guidelines, saying they left scope for harassment by authorities. They have suggested these fears may deter some from reopening manufacturing units even with a skeletal workforce.
Bhalla’s letter came hours after he and the secretary in the department for promotion of industry and internal trade, Guruprasad Mohapatra, had spoken to industry associations to allay their fears.
In the letter, Bhalla said it was important that all workplaces ensured social distancing and followed the health protocols notified by the government.
He said workplaces and industrial and commercial establishments were required to follow the guidelines about safeguards prescribed in the national directives and SOPs (standard operating procedures).
Second, the home secretary said, the activities allowed under the revised guidelines, except in the containment zones, had subsumed all the activities permitted under the earlier guidelines, issued on March 24. In addition, certain new activities have been permitted.
“Hence, it is clarified that the consolidated revised guidelines dated April 15 do not curtail the exemptions already provided earlier, unless the exempted activity falls within a containment zone,” he wrote.
“Therefore, no separate or fresh permissions are required from authorities for industries already permitted to operate prior to April 15, in areas falling outside containment zones.”
He requested all the state and Union Territories to update “industrial field establishments and field offices” on the guidelines.
“These should not be misused to harass the management of any manufacturing or commercial establishments,” Bhalla said.
Earlier, after their meeting with Bhalla and Mohapatra, industry representatives had said the government should issue a notification stating employers would not be held responsible if any worker tests positive after the resumption of operations in manufacturing units.
Industry chambers such as CII and Assocham, which attended the videoconference, urged that a clear demarcation be made within red zones between containment zones and other areas, and economic activities be permitted outside the containment zones.