Powers of the Corporation

• The ESI Corporation has extensive powers to carry out its functions and duties under the Act.
• Firstly, Section 17 allows the Corporation to appoint staff members and officers for carrying out its business effectively. It may bestow provident fund, gratuity and other similar benefits on its staff.
• Secondly, the Corporation has powers to purchase and sell movable as well as immovable properties. It can even raise loans and invest its money with the Central Government’s sanction.
• In order to ensure compliance with provisions of the Act, the Corporation can appoint Social Security Officers. These officers function in their local limits and exercise jurisdiction over factories and establishments therein.
• All employers to whom this Act applies have to pay some contribution for the benefit of employees. The Corporation has powers to determine how much this contribution should be.
• The Director-General of the Corporation has to sign on every decision it takes. He may appoint some other officer on his behalf to carry out this task.

Duties of the Corporation

• The Corporation performs many important duties under this Act. Most of these duties are in the nature of compliances relating to its functioning and decisions.
• For example, every year the Corporation has to make a budget of its probable income and expenditure. It has to submit this report to the Central Government for its approval.
• Furthermore, it has to maintain accounts of its incomes and expenses in the format that the Central Government prescribes. None other than the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India audits these accounts every year.
• Other compliances of the Corporation include submission of annual reports of its activities to the Central Government. Apart from these, it has to appoint a valuer to value its assets and liabilities every three years.