THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) RULES, 1988

G.S.R. 847(E), dated 10th August, 1988 – In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Sec. 18 of the said Act, the Central Government, hereby makes the following rules, namely :

Comment
Rule-making power – The general power of framing rules for effectuating the purposes of the Act, would plainly authorize and sanctify the framing of such a rule.

1. Short title and commencement – (1) These rules may be called the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1988.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the official Gazette.

Comment
These rules have been farmed by the Central Government in the exercise of the powers conferred by Sec. 18 (1) of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1986.

Rules – Whether validly farmed – The question whether rules are validly framed to carry out the purposes of the Act can be determined on the analysis of the provisions of the Act.

2. Definitions – In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires –
(a)“Act” means the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1986 (61 0f 1986);
(b)“Committee” means the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee constituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 5 of the Act;
(c)“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Committee appointed under sub-section (2) of Sec. 5 of the Act;
(d)“Form” means a Form appended to these ruels;
(e)“register” means the register required to be maintained under Sec. 11 of the Act;
(f)“Schedule” means the schedule appended to the Act;
(g)“section” means a section of the Act.

Comment
This rule defines the various expressions occurring in the Rules.

Interpretation by a court – The Court can merely interpret the section; it cannot re-write, re-cast or re-design the section.

Otherwise – What amounts to – The words “otherwise” is not to be construed ejusdem generic with the word “circulars, advertisement”.

3. Term of office of the members of the Committee –
(1) The term of office of the members of the Committee shall be one year from the date on which their appointment is notified in the official Gazette;
Provided that the Central Government may extend the term of office of the member of the Committee for a maximum period of two years;
Provided further that the member shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.
(2) The members appointed under sub-rule (1) shall be eligible for re-appointment.

Comment
“shall” cannot be interpreted as “may”

Proviso – In Abdul Jabar Butt v. State of Jammu and Kashmir, it was held that a proviso must be considered with relation to the principal matter to which it stands as a proviso.

4. Secretary to the Committee – The Central Government may appoint an officer not below the rank of an Under-Secretary to the Government of India as Secretary of the Committee.

Comment
This rule empowers the Central Government to appoint an officer not below the rank of an Under-Secretary to the Government of India as the Secretary to the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee.

5. Allowances to non-official members – The non-official members and Chairman of the Committee shall be paid such fees and allowances as may be admissible to the officers of the Central Government drawing a pay of rupees four thousand and five hundred or above.

6. Resignation – (1) A member may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Chairman.
(2) The Chairman may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Central Government.
(3) The resignation referred to in sub-rule (1) and sub-rule (2) shall take effect from the date of its acceptance or on the expiry of thirty days from the date of receipt of such resignation, whichever is earlier, by the Chairman or the Central Government, as the case may be.

7. Removal of Chairman or member of the Committee – The Central Government may remove the Chairman or any member of the Committee at any time before the expiry of the term of office after giving him a reasonable opportunity of showing cause against the proposed removal.

Comment
This rule lays down procedure for removal of Chairman or member of the Committee by the Central Government.

8. Cessation of membership – if a member –
(a)is absent without leave of the Chairman for three or more consecutive meetings of the Committee; or
(b)is declared to be of unsound mind by a competent court; or
(c)is or has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of the Central Government, involves moral turpitude; or
(d)is, or at any time, has been adjudicated insolvent or has suspended his debts or has compounded with his creditors, shall cease to be a member of the Committee.

Comment
This rule deals with the matter relating to cessation of membership.

9. Filling up of casual vacancies – in case a member resigns his office under rule 6 or ceases to be a member under rule 8, the casual vacancy thus caused shall be filled up by the Central Government and the member so appointed shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the term of his predecessor.

Comment
This rule empower the Central Government to fill up casual vacancies and it lays down that the member so appointed shall hold office for the unexpired portion of the term of his predecessor.

10. Time and place of meetings – The Committee shall meet at such times and places as the Chairman may fix in this behalf.

11. Notice of meetings – The Secretary to the Committee shall give at least seven days notice to every member of the Committee of the time and place fixed for each meeting along with the list of business to be transacted at the said meeting.

12. Presiding at meetings – The Chairman shall preside at every meeting of the Committee at which he is present; if, however, the Chairman is unable to attend a meeting, any member elected by the members present among themselves shall preside at the meeting.

Comment
“Shall” – It is well-known principle that in the interpretation of statutes that where the situation and the context warrants it, the word “shall” used in a section or rule of a statute has to be construed as “may”.

13. Quorum – No business shall be transacted at a meeting of the Committee unless atleast three members of the Committee other than the Chairman and the Secretary are present:
Provided that at any meeting in which less than three of the total members are present, the Chairman may adjourn the meeting to a date as he deems fit and inform the members present and notify other members that the business of the scheduled meeting shall be disposed of at the adjourned meeting irrespective of the quorum and it shall be lawful to dispose of the business at such adjourned meeting irrespective of the member of members attending the meeting.

Comment
Scope of proviso – The scope of a proviso is well settled. In Ram Narain Sons Ltd. V. Asstt. Commissioner of Sales Tax, it was held :
“It is a cardinal rule of interpretation that a proviso to a particular provision of statute only embraces the field which is covered by the main provision. It carves out an exception to the main provision to which it has been enacted as a proviso and to no other.”

14. Decision by majority – All questions considered at a meeting of the Committee shall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting and in the event of equality of votes, the Chairman, or in the absence of Chairman, the member presiding at the meeting, as the case may be, shall have a second or casting cote.

Comment
This rule lays down that the matters considered by the Committee in its meeting should be decided by a majority votes of the members present. The rule further lays down that the Chairman or in his absence the member presiding at the meeting shall have a casting vote.

15. Sub-Committees – The Committee may constitute one or more Sub-Committees, whether consisting only of members of the Committee or partly of members of the Committee and partly of other persons as it thinks fit, for such purposes, as it may decide and any Sub-Committee so constituted shall discharge such functions as may be delegated to it by the Committee.

16. Register to be maintained under Sec. 11 of the Act. – (1) Every occupier of an establishment shall maintain a register in respect of children employed or permitted to work, in Form A.
(2) The register shall be maintained on a yearly basis but shall be retained by the employer for a period of three years after the date of the last entry made therein.

Comment
Under this rule every occupier of an establishment is required to maintain an yearly register showing the children employed or permitted to work and to retain such registers for a period of three years.

17. Certificate of age. - (1) All young persons in employment in any of the occupations set-forth in Part A of the Schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the processes set forth in Part B of the Schedule is carried on, shall produce a certificate of age from the appropriate medical authority, whenever required to do so by an Inspector.
(2) The certificate of age referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be issued in Form ‘B’.
(3) The charges payable to the medical authority for the issue of such certificate shall be the same as prescribed by the State Government or the Central Government, as the case may be for their respective Medical Boards.
(4) The charges payable to the medical authority shall be borne by the employer of the young person whose age is under question.

Explanation - For the purposes of sub-rule (1), the appropriate “Medical authority” shall be Government medical doctor not below the rank of an Assistant Surgeon of a District or a regular doctor or equivalent rank employed in Employees’ State Insurance dispensaries of hospitals.

Comment
Explanation - It is not well settled that an explanation added to a statutory provision is not a substantive provision in any sense of the term but as the plain meaning of the word itself shows it is merely meant to explain and clarify certain ambiguities which may have crept in the statutory provision.

FORM A
[See Rule 16(1)]

Year………….

Name and Address of employer ..............................................................
Place of work ........................................................................................
Nature of work being done by the establishment .......................................

FORM B
(Certificate of Age)
[See Rule 17 (2)]
Certificate No ........................

I hereby certify that I have personally examined (name ..................................
Son/daughter of .................................................................... residing at .................................. and that he/she has completed his/her fourteenth year and his/her age, as nearly as can be ascertained from my examination is .................................. years (Completed).

His/Her descriptive marks

Are ................................................................................................................
Thumb-impression/signature of child ..............................

Place............................... Medical Authority

Date.............................. Designation

Supplement

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

S.O. 333(E), dated 26th may, 1933 – in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section(3) of Sec.1 of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)Act, 1986 (61 of 1986), the Central Government hereby appoints the 26th day of May, 1993 as the date of which the provisions of Part III of the said Act shall come into force in respect of all classes of establishments, throughout the territory of India, in which none of the occupations and processes referred to in Sec. 3 of the said Act is carried on.

THE SCHEDULE
(See Sec. 3)

PART A

Occupations
Any occupation concerned with: -
(1)Transport of passengers, goods or mails by railways;
(2)Cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railway premises;
(3)Work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving the movement of a vendor or any other employee of the establishment from the one platform to another or in to or out of a moving train;
(4)Work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any other work where such work is done in close proximity to or between the railway lines;
(5)A port authority within the limits of any port;
* (6) Work relating to selling of crackers and fireworks in shops with temporary
licenses;
# (7) Abattoirs/Slaughter House;
$ (8) Automobile workshops and garages;
(1)Foundries;
(2)Handling of toxic or inflammable substances or explosives;
(3)Handloom and power loom industry;
(4)Mines (underground and under water) and collieries;
(5)Plastic units and fiberglass workshops;

PART B

Processes
(1)Beedi-making.
(2)Carpet-weaving.
(3)Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement.
(4)Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving.
(5)Manufacture of matches, explosives and fire-works.
(6)Mica-cutting and splitting.
(7)Shellac manufacture.
(8)Soap manufacture.
(9)Tanning.
(10)Wool-cleaning.
(11)Building and construction industry.
* (12) Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing).
* (13) Manufacture of products from agate.
* (14) Manufacturing processes using toxic metals and substances such as lead,
mercury, manganese, chromium, cadmium, benzene, pesticides and
asbestos.
# (15) “Hazardous processes” as defined in Sec. 2 (cb) and ‘dangerous
operation’ as notice in rules made under section 87 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948)
# (16) Printing as defined in Section 2(k) (iv) of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of
1948)
# (17) Cashew and cashewnut descaling and processing.
# (18) Soldering processes in electronic industries.
$ (19) ‘Aggarbatti’ manufacturing.
(1)Automobile repairs and maintenance including processes incidental thereto namely, welding, lathe work, dent beating and painting.
(2)Brick kilns and Roof tiles units.
(3)Cotton ginning and processing and production of hosiery goods.
(4)Detergent manufacturing.
(5)Fabrication workshops (ferrous and non ferrous)
(6)Gem cutting and polishing.
(7)Handling of chromite and manganese ores.
(8)Jute textile manufacture and coir making.
(9)Lime Kilns and Manufacture of Lime.
(10)Lock Making.
(11)Manufacturing processes having exposure to lead such as primary and secondary smelting, welding and cutting of lead-painted metal constructions, welding of galvanized orzinc silicate, polyvinyl chloride, mixing (by hand) of crystal glass mass, sanding or scraping of lead paint, burning of lead in enameling workshops, lead mining, plumbing, cable making, wiring patenting, lead casting, type founding in printing shops. Store type setting, assembling of cars, shot making and lead glass blowing.
(12)Manufacture of cement pipes, cement products and other related work.
(13)Manufacture of glass, glass ware including bangles, florescent tubes, bulbs and other similar glass products.
(14)Manufacture of dyes and dye stuff.
(15)Manufacturing or handling of pesticides and insecticides.
(16)Manufacturing or processing and handling of corrosive and toxic substances, metal cleaning and photo engraving and soldering processes in electronic industry.
(17)Manufacturing of burning coal and coal briquettes.
(18)Manufacturing of sports goods involving exposure to synthetic materials, chemicals and leather.
(19)Moulding and processing of fiberglass and plastic.
(20)Oil expelling and refinery.
(21)Paper making.
(22)Potteries and ceramic industry.
(23)Polishing, moulding, cutting, welding and manufacturing of brass goods in all forms.
(24)Processes in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvesting machines are used and chaff cutting.
(25)Saw mill – all processes.
(26)Sericulture processing.
(27)Skinning, dyeing and processes for manufacturing of leather and leather products.
(28)Stone breaking and stone crushing.
(29)Tobacco processing including manufacturing of tobacco, tobacco paste and handling of tobacco in any form.
(30)Tyre making, repairing, re-treading and graphite benefication.
(31)Utensils making, polishing and metal buffing.
(32)‘Zari’ making (all processes)’.
@ (52) Electroplating;
(1) Graphite powdering and incidental processing;
(2) Grinding or glazing of metals;
(3) Diamond cutting and polishing;
(4) Extraction of slate from mines;
(5) Rag picking and scavenging.

a.for item (2), the following item shall be substituted, namely:-
‘(2) carpet weaving including preparatory and incidental process thereof”;
b.for item(4), the following item shall be substituted, namely:-
“(4) cloth printing, dyeing and weaving including processes preparatory and incidental thereto:
c. for item (11) the following shall be substituted, namely:-
“(11) Building and Construction Industry including processing and polishing of granite stones”.


* Ins. by Notification No. S. O. 404(E) dated the 5th June
1989 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.
# Ins. by Notification No. S. O. 263 (E) dated 29th March,
1994 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.
$ Ins. Sr. No. 8-13 in Part A and Sr. No. 19-51 in Part B by
Notification No. S. O. 36 (E) dated 27th January 1999
published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.
@ Ins.Sr. No. 52 – 57 part B by Notification No. S.O. 397 (E) dated the 10th May 2001 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.


(Source: labour.nic.in)