ROAD TRANSPORT WORKERS ORDINANCE, 1961

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THE ROAD TRANSPORT WORKERS ORDINANCE, 1961 
(XXVIII of 1961) 
CONTENTS 
1. Short title and commencement. 
2. Definitions. 
3. Age limit. 
3A. Order of appointment, etc. 
4. Hours of work and rest. 
5. Restriction on cumulative hours of work. 
6. Leave. 
6A. Festival holidays. 
6B. Casual leave. 
7. W.P. Ordinance No. VI of 1968 to apply to road transport service. 
8. Maintenance of registers, etc. 
9. Inspection of registers and calling for information. 
10. Power to make rules. 
11. Penalties. 
12. Protection of action taken under the Ordinance. 
 
TEXT 
1
THE ROAD TRANSPORT WORKERS ORDINANCE, 1961 
(XXVIII of 1961) 
[4 July 1961] 
An 
Ordinance 
to regulate the hours of work and other conditions of employment of road transport 
workers in Pakistan  
 WHEREAS it is expedient to regulate the hours of work and other conditions of 
employment of road transport workers in Pakistan; 
 NOW, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the Proclamation of the seventh day of 
October, 1958, and in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the 
President is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance:– 
1. Short title and commencement .– (1) This Ordinance may be called the 
Road Transport Workers Ordinance, 1961. 
 (2) It extends to 
2
[whole] of 
3
[the Punjab]. 
 (3) It shall come into force at once. 
2. Definitions.– In this Ordinance, unless there is anything repugnan t in the 
subject or context,– 
(1) "day" means a period of 24 hours beginning at midnight; 
(2) "employer" means the owner of any road transport service in which 
workers are employed, and where the business of such service is not 
directly managed by the owne r, means, the Manager, Agent or 
Representative of such owner in the said service, and where the owner 
is a minor, the guardian of such minor, and in relation to any vehicle 
which is the subject of hire -purchase agreement, the person in 
possession of the vehicle under that agreement; 
4
[(3) “Government” means Government of the Punjab]; 
(4) "hours of work" means the time during which the workers employed are 
at the disposal of the employer excluding any interval allowed for rest 
                                                           
1This Ordinance was made by the President  in pursuance of the Proclam ation of seventh day of October, 1958 ; published in 
the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary), dated July 4, 1961, pp. 1075-1080. This Ordinance had been applied to the Provincially 
Administered Tribal Areas to the Parts of those areas to which it did not al ready apply, see Regulation No. 1 of 1972, s.  2 read 
with Schedule.  This Ordinance was originally in the Federal ambit, however, the subject on which this law was enacted 
devolved to the provinces by virtue of 18 th Amendment in the Constitution, hence it w as adapted, with amendments, for the 
province of the Punjab by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act 2012 (XX of 2012) , published in the Punjab Gazette 
(Extraordinary), dated February 11, 2012, pp. 40161-40162. 
2Substituted for the words “the whole” b y the Road Tr ansport Workers (Amendment) Act  2012 (XX of 2012), published in the 
Punjab Gazette (Extraordinary), dated February 11, 2012, pp. 40161-40162, s. 2.  
3Substituted for the word “Pakistan” by the Act ibid. 
4Substituted by the Act ibid., s. 3.  
and meals; 
(5) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Ordinance; 
(6) "public place" means a road, street, way or other place, whether a 
thoroughfare or not, to which the public have a right of access, and 
includes any place or stand at which passengers are picked up or s et 
down by a vehicle; 
(7) “road transport service" means a service carrying passengers or goods 
or both by road in vehicles for hire or reward; 
(8) "vehicle" means any mechanically propelled vehicle, used or capable of 
being used for the purpose of road tr ansport and includes a tramcar, a 
trolley-vehicle and a trailer; 
(9) "week" means a period of seven days; 
(10) "worker" means a person engaged on mobile duty, and includes 
drivers, cleaners, conductors and checkers employed by or in a road 
transport service; 
(11) "year" means a period of twelve months starting from the date a worker 
is employed in a road transport service and ending on the date 
immediately preceding in the following calendar year. 
3. Age limit.– (1) No person, other than a driver, shall be employed in any road 
transport service unless he has attained the age of eighteen years. 
 (2) No person shall be employed in any road transport service for the 
purpose of driving a vehicle unless he has attained the age of twenty-one years. 
1
[3A. Order of appointment, etc.– An employer–  
(a) who has employed a worker before the  commencement
2
 of the Road 
Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975, shall within one month of 
such commencement, and  
(b) who employs, transfers or promotes a worker after such 
commencement shall on the day of such employment, transfer or 
promotion,  
furnish such worker with an order in writing in such form as may be prescribed 
specifying the terms and condition s of his employment, transfer or promotion, as the 
case may be.] 
4. Hours of work and rest.– (1) No worker shall be employed on a vehicle– 
(a) for more than five hours at a time before he has had an interval for rest 
of at least half an hour nor for more than  
3
[seven] hours before he has 
had at least two such intervals; 
                                                           
1Inserted by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act , 1975 (XII of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), Part I, dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31, s. 2. 
2The Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (XII of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary), Part 
I, dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31 commenced with its publication, s. 1(3). 
3Substituted for the word “eight” by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (XII of 1975), published in the Gazette 
of Pakistan (Extraordinary), Part I, dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31, s. 3(a). 
(b) for more than 
1
[eight] hours in a day; and 
(c) for more than 
2
[forty-eight] hours in a week. 
3
[Explanation.– A worker who is required to wait for not less than 30 minutes 
to be employed on a vehicle shall be deemed to be employed on a vehicle 
during the time he is so required to wait.] 
 (2) Every worker shall be entitled to have at least twenty -four hours of 
consecutive rest in a week. 
 (3) The Government may, by rules made under section 10, grant such 
exemptions from the provisions of sub -section (1) and sub -section (2) as it thinks fit, 
to meet cases of emergency or of delay by reason of circumstances which could not 
be foreseen:  
Provided that– 
(a) no worker shall be employed overtime in any year in excess of one 
hundred and fifty working hours; and  
(b) the worker employed overtime shall be paid remuneration at twice the 
rate of his normal wages calculated by the hour.  
 (4) Where as a result of the making of a rule exempting any worker from 
the provisions of sub -section (2), a worker is deprived of any of the w eekly hours of 
rest for which provision is made in the sub -section he shall be allowed, as soon as 
circumstances permit, compensating hours of rest of equal number so lost:  
 Provided that no worker shall be caused or allowed to work for more than ten 
consecutive days without a compensating rest for at least twenty -four hours at one 
time. 
 (5) The Government or, if authorized in this behalf by the Government by 
rules made under section 10, the competent authority, may require an employer to 
fix beforehand th e hours of  work of the workers so as to conform with the 
provisions of sub section (1) and may provide for the recording of the hours so fixed. 
 (6) No worker shall work or cause or allow any other worker to work 
outside the hours fixed or recorded for the  work of the said worker in compliance 
with any rule under sub-section (5). 
5. Restriction on cumulative hours of work .– No worker shall work or be 
allowed to work on a vehicle or two or more vehicles in excess of the period during  
which he may be lawfully employed under this Ordinance. 
6. Leave.– (1) In addition to the period of daily and weekly rest, every worker, 
who has been in continuous employment for a period of one year, shall be ent itled 
to not less than 14 days’  leave with full pay or, if he has b een continuously 
employed for a period of six months, he shall be entitled to not less than seven 
days’ leave with full pay. 
                                                           
1Substituted for the word “nine” by the Act ibid., s. 3(b).  
2Substituted for the word “fifty-four” by the Act ibid., s. 3(c). 
3Inserted by the Act ibid., s. 3(d).  
 (2) For the purpose of computing the period during which a worker has 
been in continuous employment within the meaning of sub -section (1), the period 
during which he was on leave under this section shall be included.  
1
[6A. Festival holidays.– (1) Every worker shall be entitled to festival holidays with 
full wages for twelve days in a year and the employer shall notify the days and da tes 
for such holidays to workers within a week, –  
(a) in the case of a road transport service operating immediately before 
the commencement
2
 of the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 
1975,–  
(i) for the year 1975, of the commencement of the said Act; and  
(ii) for subsequent years, of the beginning of each calendar year; 
and  
(b) in the case of a road transport service which starts operating after the 
commencement of the said Act,–  
(i) for the year in which it starts operating, of the starting of its 
operation; and  
(ii) for subsequent years, of the beginning of each calendar year.   
 (2) A worker may be required to work on any festival holiday but a 
substitute holiday shall be allowed to him within ten days of the festival holiday, or, 
at his option, h e shall be paid wages in respect of such work at double the ordinary 
rate of wages payable to him.  
6B. Casual leave.– Every worker shall be entitled in a year to ten days’ casual 
leave on full wages:  
 Provided that casual leave admissible under this sect ion shall not be 
accumulated and carried forward to the succeeding year.] 
3
[7. W.P. Ordinance No. VI of 1968 to apply to road transport service.– The 
provisions of Standing Orders 10B, 10C, 12, other than those contained in clause 
(2) thereof, 13, 14, othe r than the proviso thereto, and 15 of the  
4
[* *] Industrial and 
Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968 (W . P. Ordinance No. 
VI of 1968), as in force for the time - being, shall apply to every road transport 
service as if such road transport  service were an industrial establishment to which 
the aforesaid Ordinance had been applied by a notification under clause (c) of sub -
section (4) of section 1 thereof, and as if a worker was a workman or permanent 
workman, as the case may be, within the meaning of that Ordinance: 
 Provided that for the purpose of calculating the period for which gratuity is 
                                                           
1Inserted by the  Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (XII of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), Part I, dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31, s. 4. 
2The Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (XII of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary), Part 
I, dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31 commenced with its publication, s. 1(3). 
3Substituted by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (X II of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31, s. 5. 
4Omitted the words “West Pakistan” by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act 2012 (XX of 2012), published in the 
Punjab Gazette (Extraordinary), dated February 11, 2012, pp. 40161-40162, s. 4. 
due under Standing Order 12, no period of service preceding  the commencement
1
 of 
the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975, shall be taken into a ccount: 
 Provided further that Standing Order 10B or 10C, or Standing Order 12, in so 
far as it relates to gratuity, shall apply only to a road transport service wherein the 
workers and the other persons employed on any day within the twelve months 
immediately preceding the commencement of the said Act were, or on the day of 
commencement of the said Act or on any day thereafter are, – 
(a) in the case of Standing Order 10B, more than forty -nine; or 
(b) in the case of Standing Orders 10C, and 12, more than nin eteen.] 
8. Maintenance of registers, etc .– (1) Every employer shall, in the prescribed 
form and in the prescribed manner, keep in the office of the road transport service a 
record of the hours worked and the amount of leave taken by, and of the intervals 
allowed for rest and meals to, every worker in accordance with the provisions of this 
Ordinance and particulars of all employment overtime shall be separately entered in 
the record. 
 (2) Every employer shall, for the purposes of this Ordinance, maintain 
such other records and registers and display such notices or other documents as 
may be prescribed. 
9. Inspection of registers and calling for information .– It shall be the duty of 
every employer to produce for inspection of such inspectors as may be appointed  
by the Government all accounts or other records required to be kept for the 
purposes of this Ordinance and to give to such officer any other information in 
connection therewith as may be required . 
10. Power to make rules .– The Government may make rules fo r the purpose of 
carrying into effect the provisions of this Ordinance . 
11. Penalties .– Whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this Ordinance, or 
any of the rules made thereunder, shall be  
2
[punishable– 
3
[(a) for the first offence, with fine not exce eding five thousand rupees but 
not less than two thousand rupees; and]   
(b) for every subsequent offence, with imprisonment which may extend to 
six months and fine not exceeding 
4
[ten] thousand rupees.] 
 Provided that– 
(a) in the case of any contravention of the provisions of section 8, the 
employer shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding  
5
[one 
                                                           
1The Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (XII of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan (Extraordinary), Part 
I, dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31 commenced with its publication, s. 1(3). 
2Substituted by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act, 1975 (X II of 1975), published in the Gazette of Pakistan 
(Extraordinary), dated January 25, 1975, pp. 17-31, s. 6.  
3Substituted by the Road Transport Workers (Amendment) Act 2012 (XX of 2012), published in the Punjab Gazette 
(Extraordinary), dated February 11, 2012, pp. 40161-40162, s. 5(i). 
4Substituted for the word “one” by the Act ibid., s. 5(ii). 
5Substituted for the word “ten” by the Act ibid., s. 5(iii)(a). 
hundred] rupees for every day on which the contravention occurs or 
continues, and 
(b) if any employer, with intent to deceive, makes or causes or allows to be 
made, in any record, register, notice or other document as provided 
under section 8 an entry which is to his knowledge false in any material 
particular, or willfully omits or causes or allows to be omitted from any 
such record, register, notice or document an entry required to be made 
therein, shall be liable on conviction to simple imprisonment for a term 
not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding five 
1
[thousand] 
rupees or both. 
12. Protection of action taken under the Ordinance .– No suit, prosecution or 
other proceedings shall lie against any person for anything which is in good faith 
done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Ordinance or rules made 
thereunder. 
                                                           
1Substituted for the word “hundred” by the Act ibid., s. 5(iii)(b).