Rule 40. Manner of composition of offence by a Gazetted Officer and the manner of making application for compounding of any offence

(1) The officer notified by the State Government for the purposes of compounding of offences under sub-section (1) of section 89 (hereinafter referred to as the compounding officer) shall, if he is of the opinion that any offence under the Code for which the compounding is permissible under the said section and in respect of which prosecution is not instituted, send a notice to the accused in Form XV consisting of three parts through the designated portal of the State Labour Department.

(2) In Part I of Form XV, the compounding officer shall, inter alia, specify––

(a) the name of the offender and his other particulars;

(b) the details of the offence and the section under which the offence has been committed; and

(c) the compounding amount required to be paid towards the composition of such offence.

(3) In Part II of the Form XV, the compounding officer shall specify the consequences if the offence is not compounded, and Part III of the said Form shall contain the application to be filed by the accused, if he desires to compound the offence.

(4) Each notice referred to in sub-rule (1) shall have a continuous unique number containing alphabets or numerical and other details such as compounding officer concerned, industrial establishment, year, place and type of inspection for the purpose of easy identification.

(5) The accused to whom the notice referred to in sub-rule (1) is served, may send the duly filled up application in Part III of the notice, in the account specified by the compounding officer in the notice, Form XV to the compounding officer electronically and deposit the compounding amount electronically, or by cash, or demand draft, as the case may be, within fifteen days of the receipt

(6) Where the prosecution has already been instituted against the accused in the court of competent jurisdiction, the accused may make an application to such court to allow composition of the offence against him and that court may, after considering the application, allow composition of the offence by the compounding officer in accordance with the provisions of section 89 and procedure specified in this rule.

(7) If the accused complies with the requirement of sub-rule (5), the compounding officer shall compound the offence for the amount of money deposited by the accused and––

(a) if the offence is compounded before the institution of prosecution, then, no complaint for prosecution shall be instituted against the accused;

(b) if the offence is compounded pending proceeding under section 85, the compounding officer shall intimate the composition to the officer referred to in that section, who shall, after intimation, close the proceeding in respect of the accused person of such offence; and

(c) if the offence is compounded after the institution of prosecution under sub-rule (6) with the permission of the court, then, the compounding officer shall treat the case as closed and intimate the composition of the offence to the competent court by which such composition was allowed and after receiving such intimation, the court shall discharge the accused person and close the prosecution.

(8) The compounding officer shall exercise the powers to compound offence under this rule, subject to the direction, control and supervision of the State Government.