Delhi High Court: Petitioner was the father of a child who had been a victim of bonded labour and the present two petitions were filed seeking relief for petitioner’s minor child as well as similarly placed children who had not received the benefit of financial assistance under the statutory schemes. Petitioner was seeking directions for expeditious recovery of long pending backwages of petitioner’s minor child and 115 similar other child victims of bonded labour. The Division Bench of Manmohan, ACJ.*, and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, J.*, approved the Joint Suggestions that were made in coordination with all the Government departments and thus, with the consent of the parties, the Court issued directions in relation to the mechanism to be adopted in the post rescue protocol for rescued child labourers.
Background
Petitioner stated that the victims had been categorized into two groups, firstly, where recovery of backwages had been initiated by respondents and secondly, where respondents had failed to initiate recovery proceedings. Petitioner submitted that there were cases where recovery notices date back seven years; however, the backwages had not been provided to the rescued children.
Petitioner submitted that this Court vide order dated 09-08-2023 had directed petitioner to furnish the bank account details of rescued children so that Respondent 2 could transfer the due amount for the rescued children, however, even after furnishing the bank account details of three children to Respondent 2, no amounts had been received in the said accounts, till date.
Counsel for respondents submitted that Joint Suggestions have been made in coordination with all the Government departments responsible for implementation of the rates and prompt steps would be taken by respondents for releasing payment in the three bank accounts of the rescued children provided by petitioner. Further, petitioner submitted that he was satisfied with the mechanism suggested for providing immediate financial assistance to the rescued child labourers and expeditious recovery of backwages due to the child labourers.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court approved the Joint Suggestions and with the consent of the parties, issued the following directions in relation to the mechanism to be adopted in the post rescue protocol for rescued child labourers:
A. Immediate Financial Assistance
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When a rescued child was placed in childcare/juvenile home under the care of Government of Delhi, a savings bank account shall be jointly opened immediately after child’s rescue, in child’s name along with Superintendent/In-charge of respective Child Care Institution under Government of Delhi. Such a bank account shall be opened by providing address of Child Welfare Committee (‘CWC’) as temporary address of such child.
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If parents/guardian of rescued child were located at any point in time (in future), then subject to due verification and provision of their bank particulars, amount of financial assistance shall be transferred by the government electronically within one week from the verification of this information.
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When a rescued child was repatriated to his native place immediately upon rescue, the said information shall be shared by CWC with the Department of Labour, Government of Delhi, so that the information with respect to the bank account opened with respect to such a child could be ascertained and necessary financial assistance as well as recovered back wages shall be transferred to such account within one week of receipt of such information.
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When a rescued child who remained under the care of the CWC, and during the period of his stay at such CWC attained the age of majority, then, upon such an individual submitting an application directly to the bank where an account had been opened in his name, he/she shall be granted permission to operate such account as a sole individual.
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NGOs and Vigilance committees shall extend all coordination and assistance in providing information about bank account details and other relevant documents and records of rescued children or their parents/guardians.
B. Recovery of back wages and legal proceedings in this regard
The Court noted that as per the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourer, 2016, an expeditious trial under Section 21 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 was to be concluded within three months from the date of identification or rescue, whichever was later. The Court further noted that the benefits to labourers under the Standard Operating Procedure formulated by the Government of Delhi provided that the Labour Department must immediately initiate proceedings for the recovery of back wages from the accused employers/owners, including wages for overtime in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. However, there was no time-limit statutorily prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 for the initiation and conclusion of the proceedings for the recovery of such back wages.
Therefore, the Court issued the following directions:
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Recovery Notices shall be issued by the Department of Labour, Government of Delhi within two working days of a child’s rescue.
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In recovery proceedings, the Inspector under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 or the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 shall grant the accused employer/owner two weeks’ time to deposit back wages. In those cases, wherein these amounts were not deposited within such a timeframe, the Inspector thereafter would request the CWC to recover the same as fine, as the Chairperson were bench of magistrates. In case backwages were not deposited by the accused employer/owner within the stipulated period of two weeks, recovery certificates shall be issued by the authority concerned and the backwages shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue by the SDM concerned.
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In cases where the back wages for a particular bonded child labour was recovered, the same shall be disbursed to the said child or his/her parents/legal guardians in identical procedures as outlined for the Immediate Financial Assistance. Such disbursal shall be made within one week of such a recovery.
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NGOs and Vigilance committees shall extend all coordination and assistance in providing information with respect to bank account details and other relevant documents and records of rescued children or that of their parents/guardians in accordance with Clause 11 of the Standard Operating Procedure for Identification of Bonded Labourers and Release of Immediate Financial Assistance.
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The authority concerned shall ensure that the actual recovery from the accused employer/owner was completed within three months from the date of issue of recovery certificate.
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The departments concerned of Government of Delhi shall ensure strict time bound compliance of the directions.
The Court thereafter directed Respondent 2 to ensure that amounts due and payable in the three bank accounts of the rescued children, furnished by petitioner, were remitted within two weeks from today.
[Kaum Faqeer Shah v. Ministry of Labour and Employment, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 128, decided on 08-01-2024]
*Judgment authored by: Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner: Robin Raju, Advocate
For the Respondents: Nidhi Raman, CGSC; Hetu Arora Sethi, ASC; Zubin Singh, Arjun Basra, Nirmal Prasad, Advocates
