Patiala, Aug. 7 -- Days after the high court issued notice on a petition challenging the constitution of the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, the state government has maintained that the board was validly constituted under the Code on Social Security, 2020, and that the March 17 notification's reference to the repealed Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, was merely a "clerical error".

According to the documents, accessed by HT, the government described the incorrect reference in the March 17, 2026 notification as an "inadvertent clerical/typographical error" that did not reflect the state's intent. The documents, signed by labour secretary Manvesh Singh Sidhu, form part of the government's rep...