NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the union labour secretary to hold a meeting with his counterparts in the states to ensure that bonded labourers who are rescued receive immediate financial assistance for their timely rehabilitation.
The order was passed by a bench headed by justice Bhushan R Gavai during a hearing on a 2022 petition that called for surveys by states to identify bonded labourers in line with the top court’s decision in PUCL v. State of Tamil Nadu (2013) and to provide immediate financial assistance of ₹30,000 to the rescued bonded labourers under the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers, 2021.
Lawyer Vanshaja Shukla appearing for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which was roped into the case by the court in August, gave a note which revealed that only 1,101 of the 5,264 rescued bonded labourers in Uttar Pradesh had received financial assistance.
The bench, also comprising justice KV Viswanathan said, the figures were alarming. “There are 4,167 bonded labourers yet to receive any financial assistance,” the court said.
Senior advocate HS Phoolka representing the NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), which has intervened in these proceedings, said from 2017 till March 2024, about 11,057 children have been rescued from bonded labour in 19 states. Of these states, he added, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi were represented before the court.
The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. does not permit children to be employed in any form of employment.
Yet, the NHRC informed the court that the Bihar government rescued some 467 children. Of them, 245 were child labourers and the remaining 222 were rescued from human trafficking by voluntary organisations from different places such as railway stations.
Noting the seriousness of the situation, the bench remarked, “Why can’t the Union government come out with a uniform formula to be followed by all states.”
“In order to address the problem of inter-state trafficking of persons…we direct the secretary, ministry of labour and employment to have a meeting with counterparts in all states and union territories and come out with a proposal to tackle inter-state trafficking and grant of release certificate,” the court said.
Advocate Abhishek Jebaraj appearing for the petitioner, Surendra Manjhi, told the court that the rescued persons need to be provided with immediate financial assistance to ensure they get rehabilitated and are not trafficked again. He added that a difficulty arises in cases where the labourers from one state are rescued from another state.
Granting six weeks for this exercise to be completed, the bench further directed, “The proposal shall contain a simplified procedure that will benefit immediate payment of financial assistance.” Advocate Durga Dutt who appeared for the Union government agreed to comply with the court’s directions.
The bench told Dutt, “We are today in a digital era. Why don’t you consider setting up a portal much on the lines as you have for missing children.” The court said NHRC should be part of the consultations to analyse the problems in the present procedures that delays payment under the 2021 scheme.
The petition had raised other grievances to seek the constitution of vigilance committees in every district for enforcement of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. Under the scheme of the 1976 Act, financial assistance to rescued labourers is offered only after an inquiry is conducted by the district magistrate. The petition sought streamlining of this process to ensure time-bound release of compensation and sought directions to address the need to provide education to the rescued children for their effective rehabilitation.
The petition, filed through advocate Srishti Agnihotri, said there were several challenges in the process of identification, rescue, and providing financial assistance to bonded labourers. Of these, it flagged three concerns as immediate. These include prolonged delay by authorities to act on complaints relating to bonded labour, failure to observe timelines for release of financial assistance, and orders of the NHRC not being acted upon.
According to the figures of rescued children compiled by BBA, the largest number of such children were in Delhi (3,300), followed by Rajasthan (1,750) and Telangana (1,710). While UP and Maharashtra recorded figures of 240 and 254, the other states with big numbers were Gujarat (901), Assam (460), Andhra Pradesh (460) and Punjab (440).