Delhi HC approves assistance, recovery of wages for rescued child labourers

The Delhi High Court has approved the joint suggestions about the immediate financial assistance and recovery of back wages for rescued child labourers and issued directions to the Delhi Government to adopt the mechanism in the post-rescue protocol for rescued child labourers.

The bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora in a judgement passed on January 8, 2023, directed that in the event such a rescued child is placed in a childcare or juvenile home under the care of the Government of NCT of Delhi, a savings bank account shall be jointly opened immediately after the rescue of the child.

In the event the rescued child is repatriated to his native place immediately upon rescue, the said information shall be shared by CWC with the Department of Labour, Government of NCT of Delhi, so that information for the bank account opened to such a child can 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, said the Court.

In the event that the rescued child who remained under the care of the CWC and during the period of his stay at such CWC attains the age of majority, then, upon such an individual applying directly to the bank where an account has been opened in his name, he or she shall be granted permission to operate such account as a sole individual.

NGOs and Vigilance Committees shall extend all coordination and assistance in providing information concerning bank account details and other relevant documents and records of rescued children or those of their parents or guardians, stated the bench.

For the recovery of back wages and legal proceedings in this regard, the Court stated that the Inspector under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 or the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, shall grant the accused employer or owner two weeks to deposit back wages. In those cases, wherein these amounts are not deposited within such a time frame, the inspector thereafter requests the Child Welfare Committee ('CWC') to recover the same as a fine, as the chairperson is a bench of magistrates.

The court also directed that in cases where backwages are not deposited by the accused employer or owner within the stipulated period of two weeks, recovery certificates shall be issued by the concerned authority and the backwages shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue by the concerned SDM.

In cases where the back wages for bonded child labour are recovered, the same shall be disbursed to the said child, his or her parents or legal guardians in identical procedures as outlined for immediate financial assistance. Such disbursal shall be made within one week of such a recovery, stated the court.

The bench also directed the concerned department of the Delhi Government to ensure that amounts due and payable in the three bank accounts of the rescued children, furnished by the counsel for the petitioner, are remitted within two weeks.

The court judgement came on the petition of the father of a minor victim of bonded labour and sought a direction from the respondent authorities to expeditiously recover the long-pending back wages of the child of the petitioner and 115 other victims of bonded labour in the State of Delhi, wherein the proceedings for recovery of back wages have been initiated.

It has also sought direction from the respondent authorities, particularly the concerned Labour Department, to initiate the recovery proceedings in cases where recovery, to date, has not been initiated.