Industrial Statistics Act, 1942

This 1942 Act lets the government collect statistics about industries, mainly to inform labour and industrial policy. Section 3 allows the appropriate government (federal for industries under federal control, provincial for others) to notify that statistics will be collected on matters relating to factories, and on labour welfare and conditions such as commodity prices, attendance, housing and sanitation, indebtedness, rents, wages, provident funds, working hours, employment levels, and industrial disputes.

Section 4 lets the government appoint a statistics authority to run the collection, and section 5 gives that authority power to serve notices on any person requiring them to furnish specified information or returns at set intervals and in a prescribed form. Section 6 backs this up with a right of access — the authority or an authorised person can enter premises at reasonable times, inspect relevant records, and ask questions needed to get the required information.

Section 7 protects confidentiality: individual returns or information about a particular business cannot be published in a way that identifies that specific undertaking without its owner's written consent, and people not involved in the statistics collection generally cannot see individual returns, except for prosecution purposes.

Section 8 penalises anyone who wilfully refuses or neglects to provide required information, knowingly provides false information, or obstructs the rights of access and entry — a fine that, as amended, can extend to twenty thousand rupees, plus a further fine up to eight hundred rupees per day for a continuing offence. Section 9 separately punishes officials who improperly disclose confidential statistical information with imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to four thousand rupees, or both. This is an old law (1942), with fine amounts updated at least twice since (1980 and 2000), so the current text should be checked for the latest figures.