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Bombay High Court to Maha govt. on Child Labour: Send incapable officers home

The observation we're made during the hearing of a suo-moto (on its own) public interest litigation (PIL) initiated on the basis of a letter addressed by retired Justice P S Patankar

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"If the officers are not capable to curb the menace of child labour, then it's time they are sent home. Being in office for 20 years, like dead wood is no good for anyone," observed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday.

A division bench of Justice S C Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharati Dangre warned the state executive to pull up their socks or else it will not hesitate in ordering disciplinary inquiry or even criminal prosecution. The court felt "Only by forming a task force the government responsibility does not end. It has to ensure proper implementation and every official should feel from within to eradicate this problem. Politicians may come and go but the administration should be human and take long term measures."

The observation we're made during the hearing of a suo-moto (on its own) public interest litigation (PIL) initiated on the basis of a letter addressed by retired Justice P S Patankar, who had sought proper implementation of provisions of the Child Labour Act.

On the earlier occasion the court was informed that after setting up Special Task Forces at every district headquarter across the state to curb the menace of child labour it has been also decided to keep track of the rescued children for two years to ensure they do not return back to their old place of work.

The state government has decided to adopt Central Rules framed under Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986. As per the rules, separate mechanism needs to be formulated to keep track of the rescued children so as to ensure that they do not return back to their old workplaces and also to ensure that they are properly rehabilitated.

The state government has already framed a comprehensive policy in April 2006 to deal with child labour. Under the policy Task Force are established at every district head quarter headed by district collector and comprising of superintendent of police and labour officer of the district.

The task forces of various districts have so far rescued over 5,000 child labourers and nearly 3262 of them have been handed over to their parents. 883 children have been repatriated to the concerned authorities of the other states and remaining. While the remaining are in government run shelter homes for children.

The court has now posted the matter for further hearing on Thursday, when it is likely to constitute a committee of senior ranking officials to monitor the situation and take remedial measures.

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