HC imposes fine on Delhi government on child labour

The Delhi High Court Wednesday slapped a fine of Rs.10,000 on the Delhi government after it failed to file a comprehensive report on the number of child labourers rescued and action taken against their employers since 2009.

The court expressed displeasure after the Delhi Police counsel submitted some tabulation sheets instead of the report to the court.

"We don't want the tabulation sheet but the report. We want to know whether you have continued with raids or not since our last order in March this year," the bench said.

The court had sought the report on rescuing child labourers on a PIL filed by Save the Childhood Foundation, an NGO, seeking elimination of child labour from Delhi.

Imposing the fine on the government, a bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath, said: "This court had earlier directed to rescue at least 500 children per month."

The court March 6 had asked the Delhi government to file a comprehensive report by May 1.

It ordered the authorities to give details of how many child labourers were rescued and action taken against employers since 2009.

Earlier March 6, the counsel appearing for the petitioner had told the court that the labour department had failed to comply with the directions passed by the high court in 2009 to rescue child labourers and rehabilitate them as per action plan formulated by a committee comprising officers from various departments.

The counsel had also referred to a report filed by the labour department and said the court had earlier directed to rescue 500 children per month but as per the report, only 682 children were rescued last year.