Contractors Relieved of Cess Liability; Welfare Laws Cannot Be Enforced Without Ground-Level Implementation: Supreme Court

Supreme Court of India has delivered an important judgment clarifying that construction contractors cannot be forced to pay labour welfare cess for periods when the welfare laws were not actually implemented on the ground. This ruling settles a long-pending dispute related to infrastructure projects executed for National Highways Authority of India under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996 and the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act,…