law: 2. Definitions.
  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,
  (a) "adolescent" means a person who has completed his 4[fourteenth] year but has not completed his eighteenth year;
  1. The words "except the State of Jammu and Kashmir" omitted by Act 51 of 1970, s. 2 and the Schedule (w.e.f. 1-9-1971).
  2. The Act has been brought into force as follows:
  26th January, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 296, dated 23th January, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec.
  3 (ii), in Madhya Pradesh.
  1st February, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 296, dated 23th January, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Assam, Kerala, Mysore, Orissa, Punjab, Andaman & Nicobar Iclands, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.
  1st March, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 296, dated 23th January, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in West Bengal.
  31st March, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 296, dated 23th January, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Madras, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
  1st February, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 310, dated 30th January, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Andhra Pradesh.
  1st February, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 382, dated 31st January, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Rajasthan.
  15th February, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 468, dated 9th February, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Tripura.
  1st March, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 573, dated 16th February, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Bihar.
  31st March, 1962, vide notification No. S.O. 781, dated 9th March, 1962, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii), in Gujarat and Manipur.
  3. The proviso added by s. 2 and the Schedule, ibid. (w.e.f. 1-9-1971).
  4. Subs. by Act 61 of 1986, s. 25, for "fifteenth" (w.e.f. 23-12-1986).
  *. Vide notification No. S.O. 3912(E), dated 30th October, 2019, this Act is made applicable to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union territory of Ladakh.
  (b) "adult" means a person who has completed his eighteenth year;
  (c) "child" means a person who has not completed his 1[fourteenth] year;
  (d) "day" means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight:
  Provided that where a motor transport worker's duty commences before midnight but extends beyond midnight, the following day for him shall be deemed to be the period of twenty-four hours beginning when such duty ends, and the hours he has worked after midnight shall be counted in the previous day;
  (e) "employer" means, in relation to any motor transport undertaking, the person who, or the authority which, has the ultimate control over the affairs of the motor transport undertaking, and where the said affairs are entrusted to any other person whether called a manager, managing director, managing agent or by any other name, such other person;
  (f) "hours of work" means the time during which a motor transport worker is at the disposal of the employer or of any other person entitled to claim his services and includes
  (i) the time spent in work done during the running time of the transport vehicle;
  (ii) the time spent in subsidiary work; and
  (iii) periods of mere attendance at terminals of less than fifteen minutes;
  Explanation.
  For the purposes of this clause
  (1) "running time" in relation to a working day means the time from the moment a transport vehicle starts functioning at the beginning of the working day until the moment when the transport vehicle ceases to function at the end of the working day, excluding any time during which the running of the transport vehicle is interrupted for a period exceeding such duration as may be prescribed during which period the persons who drive, or perform any other work in connection with the transport vehicle are free to dispose of their time as they please or are engaged in subsidiary work;
  (2) "subsidiary work" means work in connection with a transport vehicle, its passengers or its load which is done outside the running time of the transport vehicle, including in particular
  (i) work in connection with accounts, the paying in of cash, the signing of registers, the handing in of service sheets, the checking of tickets and other similar work;
  (ii) the taking over and garaging of the transport vehicle;
  (iii) travelling from the place where a person signs on to the place where he takes over the transport vehicle and from the place where he leaves the transport vehicle to the place where he signs off;
  (iv) work in connection with the upkeep and repair of the transport vehicle; and
  (v) the loading and unloading of the transport vehicle;
  (3) "period of mere attendance" means the period during which a person remains at his post solely in order to reply to possible calls or to resume action at the time fixed in the duty schedule;
  (g) "motor transport undertaking" means a motor transport undertaking engaged in carrying passengers or goods or both by road for hire or reward, and includes a private carrier;
  (h) "motor transport worker" means a person who is employed in a motor transport undertaking directly or through an agency, whether for wages or not, to work in a professional capacity on a transport vehicle or to attend to duties in connection with the arrival, departure, loading or unloading
  1. Subs. by Act 61 of 1986, s. 25, for "fifteenth" (w.e.f. 23-12-1986).
  of such transport vehicle and includes a driver, conductor, cleaner, station staff, line checking staff, booking clerk, cash clerk, depot clerk, time-keeper, watchman or attendant, but except in section 8 does not include
  (i) any such person who is employed in a factory as defined in the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948);
  (ii) any such person to whom the provisions of any law for the time being in force regulating the conditions of service of persons employed in shops or commercial establishments apply;
  (i) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
  (j) "qualified medical practitioner" means a person having a certificate granted by an authority specified in the Schedule to the Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 (7 of 1916), or notified under section 3 of that Act or specified in the Schedules to the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956), and includes any person having a certificate granted under any Provincial or State Medical Council Act;
  (k) "spread-over" means the period between the commencement of duty on any day and the termination of duty on that day;
  (l) "wages" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (vi) of section 2 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (4 of 1936);
  (m) "week" means the period between midnight on Saturday night and midnight on the succeeding Saturday night;
  (n) all other words and expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (1 of 1939), shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.