New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Centre to set up a special cell to monitor the implementation of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, which bars child labour in hazardous industries. A bench of Justices SVN Bhatti and NV Anjaria also instructed the Ministry of Women and Child Development to issue directives to enforcement agencies via the chief secretaries of all respective states.
The bench stated that with the objective of preserving the rights of children and adolescents, the designated respondent must constitute a special cell to continuously oversee adherence to the statute's provisions and communicate directions to enforcing authorities through state chief secretaries, following the amendments introduced under Act No. 35 of 2016.
The 2016 amendment modified the original Child Labour Act of 1986 and took effect on September 1, 2016, establishing a total prohibition on child employment and banning children under the age of 14 from working across all occupations and processes. The underlying petition, initially filed in 2009 by the NGO Health For Millions, had challenged the constitutionality of a proviso within Section 3 of the 1986 law that previously permitted children to work in hazardous beedi-rolling workshops as part of family labor, as well as in government-aided or government-funded schools.
Additionally, the petition had requested directives compelling the Centre to furnish educational resources and two midday meals to affected child laborers. During the proceedings, counsel representing the Centre argued that the 2016 legislative amendment had largely resolved the petitioner's grievances, rendering further consideration of the petition unnecessary.
The court observed that while the specific prayers outlined in the writ petition no longer required evaluation, the primary task remaining was to ensure complete and full enforcement of the modifications brought about by the 2016 amendment Act. Consequently, the bench chose not to examine the original requests, instead placing responsibility on the respondents to guarantee absolute compliance with the mandate of the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, alongside its amended provisions, through the operation of a special monitoring cell and state-level enforcement agencies.