Summary: Child Labour Prohibition And Regulation Act 1986

Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Act, 1986

Definition Clause (Section 2)

• Appropriate Government - the Central Government for establishments under its control (e.g., railways, major ports, mines, oilfields); otherwise the State Government.
• Child - a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age.
• Day - a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight.
• Establishment - includes a shop, commercial establishment, workshop, farm, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house, theatre or other public place of amusement or entertainment.
• Family - for an occupier, means the individual, wife or husband, their children, and brother or sister of such individual.
• Occupier - the person who has the ultimate control over the affairs of an establishment or workshop.
• Port authority - any authority administering a port.
• Prescribed - as prescribed under rules made under Section 18.
• Week - a period of seven days beginning at midnight on Saturday night or another night approved in writing by the Inspector for a particular area.
• Workshop - any premises (including its precincts) where any industrial process is carried on, excluding premises covered by Section 67 of the Factories Act, 1948.

Aims and Objects

• Prohibit employment of children (under 14 years) in specified occupations and processes.
• Provide a procedure to modify the Schedule of banned occupations and processes.
• Regulate working conditions of children in employments where work by children is not prohibited.
• Prescribe enhanced penalties for employment of children in violation of this Act and related laws.
• Obtain uniformity in the definition of "child" across related laws.
• Empower the Central Government to constitute a Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee to advise on additions to the Schedule.

Rights, Liability, Extent and Commencement

• The Act affirms that the rights of the child are inalienable and indivisible.
• Persons who engage children in prohibited work are criminally liable under the Act and may be civilly liable to pay compensation for violation of fundamental rights.
• The Act received the President's assent on 23 December 1986 and extends to the whole of India (Section 1(2)).
• Under Section 1(3), provisions other than Part III came into force immediately; Part III comes into force on dates notified by the Central Government, which may vary by state and class of establishment.