Assistant Commissioner of Labour D. Anjaneya Reddy warned of stringent action against those employing children aged below 14 years in their business and commercial establishments in contravention of the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act.
Repeated violations of the Act would attract hefty penalties in addition to recovery of the difference between the minimum wage and actual payments made to the children, he pointed out.
Speaking at an ‘open court’ on child labour cases held at the PWG grounds here on Friday, Mr. Anjaneya Reddy advised traders and businessmen to verify the age certificates of children whom they wish to engage in their establishments, and the consequences of failure to do so would have to be borne by them. He also had a word of caution to parents sending their children to work at a time when they were supposed to study in schools. This would ruin the productive years of the children’s lives, and anyone who violated the Act would be dealt with sternly.
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In the ‘open court’, 35 cases were disposed of and a sum of Rs.1.60 lakh was collected from the employers. The children were sent to NCLP (National Child Labour Project) schools for getting them educated.
Orders were issued to the departments concerned to conduct raids regularly for identifying the child labourers and rehabilitating them.
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Information about children below 14 years employed in business and commercial establishments could be furnished through phone numbers 086-2574357 and 9533318348.
Assistant Labour Officers M. Venkateswara Rao and Satyanarayana, NCLP field officers K. Prasanna, and Child Line coordinator A. Ramesh were present.