Eradication of child labour: HC seeks status of implementation

The Delhi high court on Thursday expressed unhappiness at the way the Delhi government went about implementing its directions on eradicating deployment of child labour in various industrial and business units in the Capital.

The Delhi high court on Thursday expressed unhappiness at the way the Delhi government went about implementing its directions on eradicating deployment of child labour in various industrial and business units in the Capital.

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A bench of chief justice Dipak Misra and justice Sanjiv Khanna has asked the additional solicitor general of India AS Chandhiok appearing for the centre and the Delhi government to file an affidavit within two weeks on compliance of the court directions.

The court wanted to know the number of child labourers rescued after its directions in 2009, number of employers from whom the fine ranging from R50,000 to R20,000 has been collected and for what purpose the funds were being utilised.
This was after lawyer HS Phoolka, amicus curiae (lawyer assisting the court in the matter) submitted that though 1,428 children had been rescued, fine had been recovered only from 222 employers and this could hardly prove to be a deterrent against employment of child labourers.

Phoolka also told the court that there was no clarity on for what purpose the recovered funds were being used. "Why isn't there no clarity? What do you do with the fund? Why the orders to impose hefty fines on employers not being implemented properly? Please file an affidavit stating all this in two weeks," justice Misra told Chandiok.

"The funds recovered shall be used only for the welfare of the rescued child, their rehabilitation and education," the court said.

"Employment of child labour is a national phenomenon. Unless strict steps are taken it cannot be put to an end,” the judge added.