Tarannum Begum & Ors. v. GNCTD & Ors.

1. The petitioners herein are the mothers of three minor girls, who were rescued during a child labour raid conducted on 09.05.2023.

2. Following the said raid, on 10.05.2023, the office of the Joint Labour Commissioner (West) / respondent no.2 computed the back wages owed to the rescued children by their employers, amounting as under:

3. Following this, on 11.05.2023, an FIR was registered under sections 75/79 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and 3/14 of the Child and Adolescent Labour Act, 1986. However, the employers failed to deposit the aforesaid wages.

4. Despite passage of considerable period of time and multiple representations made by the petitioners to the SDM and labour authorities, the respondents have failed to recover the money from the employers. Consequently, the present petition has been filed.

5. It is not disputed that in terms of the judgments passed by this Court in Kaum Faqeer Shah vs. Ministry of Labour and Employment & Ors., 2024 SCC OnLine Del 128and Walter Kerketta vs. Sub-Divisional Magistrate-Delhi South East Dist. & Ors., passed in W.P.(C) 9744/2017 dated 04.07.2018, the necessary amounts are required to be recovered.

6. Specific attention is drawn to the judgment in Kaum Faqeer Shah (supra) which inter-alia delineates the procedure to be followed in these matters. The relevant portion of the same reads as under:

(i) Recovery Notices shall be issued by the Department of Labour,

(ii) 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 (2) weeks' time to deposit back wages. In those cases, wherein these amounts are not deposited within such a timeframe, the Inspector thereafter requests the Child Welfare Committee (‘CWC’) to recover the same as fine, as the Chairperson are bench of magistrates. It is directed in case backwages are not deposited by the accused employer/owner within the stipulated period of two (2) 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;

(iii) In cases where the back wages for a particular bonded child labour is 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 (1) week from such a recovery.

(iv) 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” as approved by this Court in its judgment dated 04.07.2019 passed in W.P.(C) No. 9744/2017, titled “Walter Kerketta v. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, South-East Delhi.”

(v) The concerned authority shall ensure that the actual recovery from the accused employer/owner is completed within three (3) months from the date of issue of recovery certificate.

(vi) The concerned departments of GNCTD shall ensure strict time bound compliance of the directions.

11. We place on record our appreciation for the joint exercise undertaken by the Petitioner and the Respondent Nos. 2 to 5 for formulating the Joint Suggestions. We direct Government of NCT of Delhi to place the aforesaid directions on the website along with the SOP approved in W.P.(C) NO. 9744/2017, titled “Walter Kerketta v. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, South-East Dist..”