Patiala, Aug. 27 -- The Punjab government has reconstituted the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board (BOCW) under the Code on Social Security, 2020, weeks after admitting that a clerical error had crept into the notification through which the board was originally constituted. The fresh notification, issued by the labour department on August 14, supersedes all earlier orders relating to the constitution of the board. The government said the latest notification was issued to consolidate the original notification of March 17, 2026, and the corrigendum issued on the same day. The move comes amid questions over the legal status of decisions and welfare schemes of the board that were framed or implemented under the repealed Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. The Punjab government had earlier maintained that the Labour Welfare Board was validly constituted under the Code on Social Security, 2020, and that the reference to Section 18 of the 1996 BOCW Act in the March 17 notification was only a clerical error. According to the government, the error was noticed immediately and rectified through a corrigendum issued the same day. The corrigendum substituted the reference to Section 18 of the 1996 Act with Section 7 of the Code on Social Security, 2020. The latest notification now specifically invokes Section 7 of the Social Security Code and constitutes the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board under the new legal framework. Experts have raised objections to some of the provisions guiding the newly constituted Labour Welfare Board, questioning the validity of allowing it to continue with decisions and schemes made under a repealed 1996 law. Critics contend that the Building and Other Construction Workers Act was officially cancelled on November 21, 2025, meaning that certain paragraphs of the fresh government notification now go directly against Sections 7(6) and 164(2) of the new Social Security Code. Patiala-based labour rights activist Vijay Walia stated that the board must function strictly in accordance with Section 7 of the Social Security Code, which specifies authorised welfare functions like death and disability benefits, pensions, group insurance, educational schemes, medical assistance, maternity benefits, and skill development for construction workers....