Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to supply detailed information on the difficulties encountered in applying the national legislation in the area of occupational diseases and to indicate the steps taken or envisaged to improve the screening and the recognition of occupational diseases. In this respect, in its comments concerning the application of the Convention, the National Front of Indian Trade Unions (NFITU) previously referred to various problems in this area arising from deficiencies in the application of the national legislation concerning occupational diseases, from the ineffectiveness of supervisory measures for upholding workers’ rights and from the arbitrary nature of decisions and procedures resulting in delays in the processing of files. The Government also recognized the need to improve procedures for the diagnosis of occupational diseases.

In its last report, the Government refers to appeal procedures established by the current legislation with regard to occupational diseases and points out that controls and periodic inspections are made in relation to the authorities responsible for compensation issues at both regional and national levels. It repeats the fact that the detection and treatment of occupational diseases is a matter for the four occupational disease centres existing in the country and supplies statistical information relating to the cases of occupational disease in respect of which compensation has been paid during the last five years, namely 31 cases recorded in various sectors of economic activity.

While noting this information, the Committee observes that the Government does not supply the requested detailed information in its report concerning the action it has taken to rectify the dysfunctional aspects of screening and compensation for occupational diseases. Moreover, the extremely low number of occupational diseases recognized in the country does not appear to demonstrate the effectiveness of existing procedures for the recognition and compensation of occupational diseases. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will provide information in its next report on the measures taken in this respect and would be grateful if the Government would continue supplying, in conjunction with its reports, statistical information on the number of recognized occupational diseases, disaggregated by type of pathology and occupational activity, and on the sums paid by way of compensation as benefits in cash and in kind, etc.