Contents of the OSH Code

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

Section 117. Onus as to age

In force since 21 Nov 2025Chapter XIV — Miscellaneous

Official text

(1) When any offence is committed under this Code involving an issue of a certain age of a person and such person is in the opinion of the court prima facie under such age, the burden shall be on the accused to prove that such person is not under such age.

(2) The medical authority prescribed by the Central Government shall, while examining a worker for issuing the certificate of age for the purposes of this Code, take into account the Aadhaar card of the worker, and in the absence thereof, the date of birth certificate from school or the matriculation or equivalent certificate from the concerned examination Board of the worker, if available, and in the absence thereof, the birth certificate of the worker given by a corporation or a municipal authority or a Panchayat, and only in the absence of any of the methods specified in this sub-section, the age shall be determined by such medical authority through an ossification test or any other latest medical age determination test.

Source: The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, Act No. 37 of 2020 — Gazette of India, p. 61 of the PDF. Open our copy at p. 61 · official download · all sources

Commencement In force since 21 Nov 2025

Notification wording (1)
  • S.O. 5321(E), in force from 21 Nov 2025: “the Central Government hereby appoints the 21st day of November, 2025 as the date on which the provisions of the said Code, shall come into force”