The Delhi High Court has asked the Union, the Delhi Labour Department and the Welfare Board to state on affidavit whether they have an action plan to use the roughly Rs 3,000 crore lying unutilised in construction workers’ cess, and directed that one be prepared if none exists.
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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union of India, the Labour Department of the State Government and the Welfare Board to file fresh affidavits within four weeks on the steps taken to extend benefits to construction workers, noting that the corpus built from the cess collected for their welfare remains unutilised. [Sunil Kumar Aledia v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Others]
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia passed the order in W.P.(C) 2991/2020 and a connected petition, W.P.(C) 13120/2026.
Background
The petitions complain of inadequate implementation of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and of the non-utilisation of about Rs 3,000 crore collected as cess from builders for the welfare of construction workers. The petitioners contend that workers are being deprived of statutory benefits even though funds are available.
The Bench also took note that the older labour enactments have been replaced by the new labour Codes, including the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.
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What the Court directed
The Court called upon the authorities to file fresh affidavits giving details of the steps taken to extend the benefits available to construction workers.
“Having regard to the fact that a new statutory regime has taken over, and also taking into consideration the fact that the corpus created for the benefit of the construction and other workers remains unutilised, we call upon the Union of India and the Labour Department, the Labour Department of the State Government as also the Board to file fresh Affidavits giving details of the steps which have been taken to extend the benefits available to the construction and other workers.”
“While filing the Affidavits under this Order, the concerned authorities shall also state as to whether they have an action plan to extend the benefit out of the corpus collected in the form of cess. We further direct that in case no such action plan is in place, the same shall be prepared / enforced in alignment with the statutory requirements of the new labour laws.”
Registration of employers
“We also direct that while registering the employers of the construction and other workers, all the requirements as per the new codes and rules thereunder shall be followed, which will include requiring the employer to furnish a list of the construction workers employed with them.”
Timeline and warning
The affidavits are to be filed within four weeks and served in advance on counsel for the petitioners, who will have a week thereafter to file rejoinders. The Court warned that if the affidavits are not filed or do not contain the information needed to decide the issues, such inaction “will be viewed seriously by the Court.” The matter is listed on 18 November 2026 and has been placed “High on Board”.
Why the order matters
With the 1996 regime giving way to the new Codes, the order pushes the authorities to say on affidavit how the accumulated cess will actually reach workers, and ties employer registration to a worker list under the new rules.
Case Title: Sunil Kumar Aledia v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Others | W.P.(C) 2991/2020 with W.P.(C) 13120/2026 | Order dated 1 October 2026 | Bench: Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia | Next hearing: 18 November 2026
Appearances: For the Petitioners: Mr. Avi Singh, Senior Advocate, with Mr. Dhruv Malik, Mr. Rudraksh Mathur and Ms. Aditi Gupta. For GNCTD: Mr. Anubhav Gupta, Panel Counsel, with Ms. Rashi Aggarwal. For the Union of India: Ms. Arunima Dwivedi, CGSC, and Mr. Rohan Jaitley, CGSC. For the Welfare Board: Ms. Inderjeet Sidhu and Mr. Ashutosh Dutta; Mr. Anuj Chaturvedi.
READ ORDER: Sunil Kumar Aledia v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi