Home  /  OSH Code, 2020  /  Section 103

Section 103: Onus of proving limits of what is practicable

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act No. 37 of 2020) • Official Statutory Text & Plain English Practice Guide

Statutory Mandate
Chapter XI: Offences and Penalties
Competent Labour Forum
Act No. 37 of 2020
Section 102 All 143 Sections of OSH Code, 2020 Section 104

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 103

Section 103 of the Code establishes the rule governing the onus of proving limits of what is practicable, providing that where the Code requires an employer to do something 'so far as is practicable', the burden of proving that it was not practicable lies squarely upon the accused employer.

  • Statutory Placement of Evidentiary Burden: Explicitly places the legal burden of proving impracticability on the employer or occupier, relieving regulatory prosecutors of establishing technical engineering feasibility.
  • Strict Engineering Feasibility Standards: Requires management to demonstrate that the cost, physical impossibility, or state of technology rendered the required safety precaution completely unfeasible.
  • Inadmissibility of Mere Commercial Inconvenience: Precludes employers from arguing that safety measures were impracticable merely because they increased production costs or reduced profit margins.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Consumer Education & Research Centre v. Union of India (1995) 3 SCC 42: Supreme Court held that commercial profitability cannot be weighed against worker health and life; what is scientifically possible to protect health is legally practicable.
  • M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1987) 1 SCC 395: Affirmed that hazardous industrial enterprises bear an absolute burden to maintain state-of-the-art containment technology regardless of financial expense.
  • J.K. Industries Ltd. v. Chief Inspector of Factories (1996) 6 SCC 665: Supreme Court ruled that statutory safety duties must be strictly discharged unless absolute physical impossibility is proved by the occupier.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In industrial prosecutions involving the defense of impracticability, defense counsel must produce expert metallurgical or chemical engineering testimony along with global comparative technical standards; mere subjective managerial testimony will fail under Section 103.

Section 102 All 143 Sections of OSH Code, 2020 Section 104