Supreme Court judge Tirath S. Thakur on Saturday said it is not just enough to have laws, but the challenge lies in enforcing and ensuring that they reach the targeted people.
“There is no dearth of laws in this country. You must have heard the Prime Minister speak about his resolve to repeal one law a day. By that stand, he is committed to repealing nearly 1,700 laws by the end of his term when he goes to poll again. But the challenge is to enforce and implement the existing laws,” he said.
He was speaking at a State-level workshop on unorganised workers and law in the city.
Mr. Thakur expressed displeasure that the benefits of schemes under various laws did not reach the targeted people. “This is the ground reality. The poor people for whom these schemes have been designed are unable to get the benefits,” he said.
On the non-utilisation of funds collected by the Building Construction Workers’ Welfare Boards in various States, he said the board had collected Rs. 3,170 crore so far in Karnataka. “The amount is not to kept as fixed deposit, but to be utilised,” he said.
In Punjab and Haryana, funds to the tune of Rs. 170 crore have been collected but the annual expenditure is only Rs. 2 crore.
Special transportation
Labour Commissioner D.S. Vishwanath said the Labour Department would soon launch an exclusive transportation service for women workers in the unorganised sector, especially garment workers. He said it will likely take off within two weeks.
