HC empowers police to proceed against those employing children

The Delhi High Court today empowered the police to initiate criminal proceedings against those employing children as labourers and to recover Rs 20,000 from them as penalty without waiting for their conviction.

"We direct that the responsibility of lodging a police complaint against an employer, employing child labour, would lie with the Delhi Police and not the Labour Department," a Division Bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah said.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Manmohan, passed the order on petitions filed by NGOs seeking its direction to formulate guidelines for regulating and eradicating child labour in the capital.

The Court said that for eradicating the problem, the police should be given power to take action against the erring employer and it should not be left to the labour department.

"We clarify that the authority to take action under the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1976, would be the Deputy Commissioner of District concerned and not the Labour department", the court said.

The Court accepted the suggestions of National Commission on Protection of Child Rights for harmonious coordination amongst various departments to tackle the problem.

The Court had on September 24 last year directed the Commission to formulate a detailed Action Plan for strict enforcement and implementation of Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 and other related legislations.