13Inspectors

(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint such persons as it thinks fit to be Inspectors for the purposes of this Act ¹[, the Scheme] ²[, the ³[Pension] Scheme or the Insurance Scheme], and may define their jurisdiction.

(2) Any Inspector appointed under sub-section (1) may, for the purpose of inquiring into the correctness of any information furnished in connection with this Act or with any ⁴ Scheme or the Insurance Scheme or for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the provisions of this Act or of any ⁴[Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] have been complied with ⁵[in respect of ⁶[ an establishment] to which which any ⁴[Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] applies or for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act or any Scheme or the Insurance Scheme are applicable to any ⁷[establishment] to which the ⁴[Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] has not been applied or for the purpose of determining whether the conditions subject to which exemption was granted under section 17 are being complied with by the employer in relation to an exempted ⁷[establishment]]--

(a) require an employer ⁸or any contractor from whom any amount is recoverable under section 8A to furnish such information as he may consider necessary ⁹***;

(b) at any reasonable time ¹⁰[and with such assistance, if any, as he may think fit, enter and search] any ⁷[establishment] or any premises connected therewith and require any one found in charge thereof to produce before him for examination any accounts, books, registers and other documents relating to the employment of persons or the payment of wages in the ⁷[establishment];

(c) examine, with respect to any matter relevant to any of the purposes aforesaid, the employer ⁸[or any contractor from whom any amount is recoverable under section 8A], his agent or servant or any other person found in charge of the ⁷[establishment] of any premises connected therewith or whom the Inspector has reasonable cause to believe to be or to have been, an employee in the ⁷[establishment];

¹¹(d) make copies of, or take extracts from, any book, register or other document maintained in relation to the establishment and, where he has reason to believe that any offence under this Act has been committed by an employer, seize with such assistance as he may think fit, such book, register or other document or portions thereof as he may consider relevant in respect of that offence;

(e) exercise such other powers as the ⁴[Scheme or the Insurance Scheme] may provide.

¹²[(2A) Any Inspector appointed under sub-section (1) may, for the purpose of inquiring into the correctness of any information furnished in connection with the ¹³[Pension] Scheme or for the purpose of ascertaining whether any of the provisions of this Act or of the ¹³[Pension] Scheme have been complied with in respect of an establishment to which the ¹³[Pension] Scheme applies, exercise all or any of the powers conferred, on him under clause (a), clause (b), clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-section (2).

¹⁴[ ¹⁵[(2B)] The provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898) shall, so far as may be, be, apply to any search or seizure under sub-section (2), ¹⁶[or under sub-section (2A), as the case may be], as they apply to any search or seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under section 98 of the said Code.

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