Q:About a month ago, a friend of ours brought to us a young boy whose home is in Nandigram. Because of the trouble there, his family had sent him away to Calcutta to look for work. His family is very poor and at our friend’s request, we employed the boy as domestic help in our house for a salary. The boy claims to be 11 years old. We treat him like a family member. Recently another friend of ours told us that there is a law prohibiting employment of young children and that we could be in trouble notwithstanding how well we are treating the boy. Please advise us regarding such a law, if any, and whether we could really be in trouble for contravening such law?
Name withheld
A: There is an Act of the Parliament that prohibits “the engagement of children in certain employment and to regulate the conditions of work of children in certain permissible employment”. It is called the Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Act, 1986. Broadly speaking, the Act prohibits engagement of a child (defined as a person who has not completed his or her fourteenth year of age) in certain occupations (eg. automobile workshop and garages, mines and collieries, etc.) and manufacturing processes which are hazardous as specified in Parts A & B of the Schedule to the Act. However, the Act does not prohibit employment of a child as a domestic help in a residential house and nor does the Act regulate the working conditions for such a child. Hence, I do not think that you need to worry about anything and particularly when you are treating the boy as a family member. I feel that you are doing a great service to the boy and his family by accommodating him and providing monetary assistance in their time of crisis.
Q:I had been working as a senior officer in the accounts department of a wholly-owned government company since 2003. In 2005, a charge sheet was issued to me alleging various acts of financial irregularities and I was placed under suspension. A departmental enquiry proceeding was initiated against me, which I duly defended. I filed voluminous representations and documents before the enquiry officer refuting the charges levelled against me.
The proceedings continued for more than two years and about 43 sittings were held. About two weeks ago, the enquiry officer submitted a report holding me guilty of all the charges. The report is cryptic and says that having considered all the pleadings, documents and evidence on record, the charges against me are proved. I have been asked to submit my response to the said report. What response can I give when the report does not even record the basis on which the charges have been held to be proved? I am clearly being victimised. What should I do?
Asit Sen
A: You can challenge the enquiry officer’s report by filing a writ application in the appropriate high court. The courts have laid down repeatedly that an adjudicating authority must at least briefly indicate the basis on which the decision is arrived at. Otherwise it would be arbitrary and also in breach of the principles of natural justice. Any decision of such an authority must be informed with reasons. One who is condemned is entitled to know the reasons so that he can meaningfully challenge the decision. Going by what you have stated, the enquiry officer’s report is very likely to be quashed by the high court.
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