(1) This Act may be called the Plantations Labour Act, 1951.
(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
(4) It applies to the following plantations, that is to say, -
(a) to any land used or intended to be used for growing tea, coffee, rubber, cinchona or cardamom which admeasures 5 hectares or more and in which fifteen or more persons are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months;
(b) to any land used or intended to be used for growing any other plant, which admeasures 5 hectares or more and in which fifteen or more persons are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months, if, after obtaining the approval of the Central Government, the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, so directs.
Explanation - Where any piece of land used for growing any plant referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of this sub-section admeasures less than 5 hectares and is contiguous to any other piece of land not being so used, but capable of being so used, and both such pieces of land are under the management of the same employer, then, for the purposes of this sub-section, the piece of land first mentioned shall be deemed to be a plantation, if the total area of both such pieces of land admeasures 5 hectares or more.
(5) The State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that all or any of the provisions of this Act shall apply also to any land used or intended to be used for growing any plant referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (4), notwithstanding that -
(a) it admeasures less than 5 hectares, or
(b) the number of persons employed therein is less than fifteen :
Provided that no such declaration shall be made in respect of such land which admeasured less than 5 hectares or in which less than fifteen persons were employed, immediately before the commencement of this Act.
