Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
P. SIVASWAMY
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH
DATE OF JUDGMENT10/08/1988
BENCH:
MISRA RANGNATH
BENCH:
MISRA RANGNATH
VENKATACHALLIAH, M.N. (J)
CITATION:
1988 AIR 1863 1988 SCR Supl. (2) 346
1988 SCC (4) 466 JT 1988 (3) 441
1988 SCALE (2)484
ACT:
Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, l976-Section 4-
Abolition of Bonded Labour-Every Bonded Labour stands freed
from commencement of Act-Identification of Bonded Labour-A
difficult task--States must discharge its obligation cast
under the Act-Situation is very unsatisfactory-No employer
should take advantage of the economic disability Of l2
brother citizen.
%
Public Interest Litigation-A letter written by the
Secretary of a social organization alleging prevalence of
bonded labour in stone quarries in Andhra Pradesh treated as
writ petition-Difficult for Court to entertain separate
complaints alleging prevalence of bonded labour.
HEADNOTE:
Section 4 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act,
1976 abolishes the bonded labour system and states that on
commencement of the Act every bonded labourer shall stand
freed and discharged from any obligation to render any
bonded labour.
The Secretary of a social organization in Tamil Nadu
wrote a letter to the Court alleging prevalence of bonded
labour in stone quarries in several districts of Andhra
Pradesh. This letter was registered as a writ petition.
Three other similar applications were also received and
registered as writ petitions.During the pendency of the
petitions, the court passed certain interlocutory orders. In
the first order the Court directed the District Magistrate,
Hyderabad and a representative of a social organisation
(AWARE) to visit the site and make a report to the court
within two weeks. In the next order the court asked the
respondent State of Andhra Pradesh to file an affidavit
showing how many bonded labourers had been identified and
released since 1.1.1983 and whether they had been
rehabilitated and if so, in what manner and if there is a
follow up action. If not rehabilitated then what steps were
being taken by the State to do so. It was also directed that
Vigilance Committees be set up and a member of social
organizations may also be included as a member in each
committee. After the District Judge submitted his report the
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Court asked the State Government to take further steps and
see that several relevant labour laws applicable to labour
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working in stone quarries are fully implemented. The Court
also directed that a Joint Secretary of the Ministry of
Labour, Government of India should visit the relevant stone
quarries to hold an enquiry for the purpose of ascertaining
whether there was existence of bonded labour and whether
the several relevant mines laws and labour laws were being
observed. After the receipt of the report of the Joint
Secretary, the Court directed the State of Andhra Pradesh to
carry out the suggestions and recommendations made in the
said report and to file an affidavit setting out what steps
and measures have been taken by the State Government on the
recommendations made by the Joint Secretary. The Court also
issued notice to the Central Government to take steps to
ensure that the provisions of the Mines Act and the
connected laws are observed in the stone quarries. As a
result of the action taken by the Court about 2200 bonded
labourers were freed. The State of Andhra Pradesh arranged
for their transport to their homes situated in the States of
Orissa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The State Governments of
these three States were directed to take further steps for
the rehabilitation of the bonded labourers and submit a
report to the Court. Pursuant to this direction the State of
Orissa submitted a report showing how these persons were
rehabilitated by providing assistance to them. The State of
Tamil Nadu also filed a report after repeated directions
and stated the measures being taken by them for
rehabilitation of these labourers. However, in spite of
repeated directions the State of Karnataka did not cooperate
in filing an affidavit showing how they have rehabilitated
the freed bonded labourers.
The Court while disposing of the writ petitions and
giving some more time to the State of Karnataka to do the
needful.
HELD/OBSERVED:Detailed provisions have been made for
extinguishment of liability to repay bonded debt,
implementing authorities have been set up, vigilance
committees have been provided, resort to bonded labour has
been made an offence and steps for rehabilitation have also
been indicated. Laws, however beneficial they may be, are
difficult to be implemented unless the requisite social
consciousness has grown. The system of Bonded Labour has
prevailed in this Country for centuries. The gap in economic
conditions has been the main cause for this. [358F-G]
The society envisaged under the constitutional set-up
can no more take bonded labour as a part of it. Every
citizen must be prepared to accept every other citizen as a
person equal to him for enjoying the social benefits and the
guarantees provided under the Constitution. It must,
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herefore, become a conscious obligation of every must,
therefore, become a conscious obligation of every employer
not to take advantage of the economic disability of a
brother citizen and force him into the system of Bonded
Labour. It must equally be the obligation of every citizen
to cooperate in bringing about abolition or what is
condemned by the laws as Bonded Labour; otherwise, the
beneficial legislation would remain on paper with mere a
statutory declaration of abolishing bonded labour as
provided in section 4 and yet continue to prevail unabated
in the community. [359D-F]
Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of lndia, [1984] 3 SCC
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161, referred to.
Twelve years have passed since the law came into the
Statute Book and surprisingly it came 26 years after the
Constitution came into force. In 38 years under the
Constitution, we have not been able to generate appropriate
attitudes and dispositions to live amicably in the polity.
Instead of appropriate consciousness manifesting itself
contra-indica-tions have widely appeared. Even those on whom
the Statute casts the responsibility of implementing the
provisions of the Act do not appear to be in a situation to
respond. It is difficult for the Court to entertain repeated
complaints of this type and devote attention by way of
monitoring the administration of the Act, as has been in
this case. We are surprised that about three years were
necessary to persuade the State of Andhra Pradesh (Where
bonded labour was identified and from where repatriation was
necessary) and the states of Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil
Nadu where rehabilitation was to be provided to perform
their statutory obligations. [360A-C]
JUDGMENT:
ORlGINAL JURISDICTION: Writ Petition (Crl.) No. 1574 of
1982
(Under Article 32 of the constitution of India)
T. V. S. N. Chari for the Petitioner.
G. Narasimhulu, N. Santosh Hegde, Advocate General P. R.
Ramasesh, A.V. Rangam and S.K. Mehta for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
RANGANATH MISRA, J. A letter written by the
Secretary/Spokesman of the Great War Ex-Services
Organisation at Tirukkoyilur in South Arcot District of
Tamil Nadu alleging prevalence of bonded labour in stone
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quarries in several districts of Andhra Pradesh and other
areas was registered as Writ Petition No. 1574 of 1982. The
other three applications are similar matters. We propose to
confine reference to the first case as, through
interlocutory orders, whatever relief was necessary had been
given in these matters.
On 25th of January, 1983, this Court made the following
order:
"Writ petition is adjourned for three weeks. Meanwhile
District Magistrate, Hyderabad, and a representative of
AWARE will jointly and together visit the site referred to
in the writ petition of the petitioner and make a report to
this Court in regard to the various averments made in the
writ petition. The report shall be made by the District
Magistrate, Hyderabad and the representative of the AWARE
within two weeks from today . . . . .".
On 19th August, l983, this Court again directed :
"The writ petition is adjourned to 28.9.83. Meanwhile,
the respondent State of Andhra Pradesh will file an
affidavit setting out in detail facts and figures showing
how many bonded labourers have been identified and released
in the different districts or the State since 1.1.83 and
whether they have been rehabilitated and if so, in what
manner and whether there is any follow up action. If there
are any freed bonded labourers who have not yet been
rehabilitated, the respondent State of Andhra Pradesh will
set out in its affidavit whether any step have been taken
for keeping track of them after their release and what
measures it proposes to adopt in the immediate future for
their rehabilitation. We are informed that Vigilance
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Committees have been constituted in some of the districts of
the State. We would, therefore, direct that Vigilance
Committees shall be set up at a very early date in all the
districts and sub-divisions of the State and in these
Vigilance Commmittees, social activists shall be included as
members on the basis of their record of social commitment
because it is now recognised on all hands that it is only
through the active involvement of voluntary agencies and
social action groups that the problem of identification of
bonded labour can he solved. We would also direct that in
every Vigilance Committee, constituted or to be constituted,
a representative of AWARE if available, shall be included
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as a member in order to ensure vigorous and effective
implementation of the programme of identification and
rehabilitation of bonded labour.
We would also like the district Judge Krishna District
to visit the stone quarries at Kailaspuram and inquire
whether there are still any workmen working in the stone
quarries against their will and whether the advances made to
the workmen are written off as promised by the contractors
and whether they are paying to the workmen higher wages
ranging from Rs.56 to Rs.75 per unit without any deductions
Soon after the report of the District Judge was
received, this Court made another order on 20th of October,
1983, where it was stated interalia :
"The second direction relates to the observance of the
various labour laws in stone quarries in Kailaspuram in
Krishna District. The State Government has made various
suggestions in the affidavit of Shri K. Parthsarathy for the
purpose of ensuring observance of the labour laws for the
benefit of the workers engaged in the stone quarries and has
also put forward a few other suggestions with a view to
improve the living conditions of the workmen. We hope and
trust that the State Government will. without any undue
delay, proceed to carry out these suggestions and shall not
wait for any directions to be given by this Court in that
behalf. It appears from the report of the District Judge
that it is extremely doubtful whether the Labour Iaws are
being enforced properly. It is, therefore, necessary to
direct an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining whether
the labour laws are being properly observed. There can be no
doubt that the stone quarry being a mine within the meaning
of Mines Act, 1952, the provisions of Mines Act. 1952, the
Mines Rules, 1955, Mines Vocational Training Rules, Mines
Crush Rules and Minimum Wages Act are applicable to workmen
employed/engaged in stone quarries. So also the provisions
of the Contract Labour Regulations and Abolition Act are
applicable. In case the work of the stone quarrying or any
part thereof is entrusted by the mine owners of the stone
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quarries or the lessee of stone quarries to contractor or
labour/workmen are recruited through the agency of
contractors, there are various magnificent provisions
enacted in these labour laws for the benefit of persons
engaged/employed in stone quarries and it is essential that
the benefits of these provisions must be made available to
the workmen. We would, therefore, direct Shri Lakshmidhar
Mishra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Government of
India, to visit the stone quarry at Kailaspuram and to hold
an inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is
existence of bonded Labour and whether the Mines Act, 1952,
Mines Rules, 1955, Mines Vocational Training Rules, Mines
Crush Rules and the Contract Labour (Regulations and
Abolition) Act, and the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, are being
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observed................".
Pursuant to these orders the District Judge of Krishna
District. AWARE and Mr. Lakshmidhar Mishra submitted three
separate reports, copies whereof had been furnished to the
respondents. It is appropriate to indicate at this stage
that the necessity to appoint Mr. Lakshmidhar Mishra to go
into the aspects indicated in the order refer-red to above
arose out of the report of the District judge as he had
indicated that several beneficial legislations meant for
protecting the interests of the workmen were not being
enforced.
On 10th of January,1984, after the report by Mr. Mishra
was furnished to the Court, the following order was made:
"Pursuant to the order made by us on 20th of October,
I983, Sri Lakshmidhar Mishra, joint Secretary, Ministry of
Labour, Government of India, visited the stone quarries at
kailaspuram and held an inquiry for the purpose of
ascertaining whether there is existence of bonded labour and
whether the Mines Act, 1952, Mines Rules, 1955 Mines
Vocational Training Rules, Mines Creche Rules, 1955,
Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, and the
Minimum Wages Act are being observed or not. He has
submitted a report to the Court and copies of this report
have been supplied to the learned advocates appearing an
behalf of the parties. Mr. Ram Reddy, learned Advocate
appearing on behalf of the State of Andhra Pradesh has
requested for time in order to consider this report and he
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has assured us that the suggestions and recommendations of
Shri Lakshmidhar Mishra in this report will be carried out
by the State of Andhra Pradesh to the extent feasible and in
case of any difficulty, the matter will be brought to the
notice of the Court so that appropriate directions can be
given. We adjourn the writ petitions to 21.2.1484 in order
to enable the State of Andhra Pradesh to carry out the
suggestions and recommendations made in the report of Shri
Lakshmidhar Mishra and to file appropriate affidavit setting
out what steps and measures have been taken by the State
Government and if any of the suggestions and recommendations
have not been carried out what are the difficulties in
regard to the carrying out of such suggestions and
recommendations and also as to how the State Government
propose to resolve them. We hope and trust that the State of
Andhra Pradesh will carry out the suggestions and
recommendations contained in the report of Shri Lakshmidhar
Mishra within the time allowed to them.
We also issue notice to the Central Government which is
responsible for the enforcement of the Mines Act, 1952,
Mines Rules, 1955, Mines Vocational Training Rules and Mines
Creche Rules since it has already been held by this Court in
a judgment delivered on 16.12.1983 in the case of Bandhua
Mukti Morcha v.Union of India & Qrs., [l984] 3 SCC 161 that
stone quarries are mines within the meaning of the Mines
Act, 1952 and the provisions of the Mines Act, 1452, Mines
Rules, l95t, Mines Vocational Rules and Mines Creche Rules
are applicable to the stone quarries. The Registry will
forward to the Ministry of Mines as also to the Ministry of
Labour, Government of India, along with the notice, copies
of the writ petitions and of the report made by Shri
Lakshmidhar Mishra. The control Government will in the
meanwhile take steps to ensure that the provisions of the
Mines Act, 1952 and the connected laws are observed in the
stone quarries of Kailasgiri and make a report in that
behalf of this Court before the next date of hearing . . . .
As a result of the action taken by the Court in these
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writ petitions, about 700 bonded labourers were freed
earlier and thereafter about 1,500 more bonded labourers
were freed. The State of Andhra Pradesh also arranged for
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their transport from Kailasgiri to their homes situated
outside the State of Andhra Pradesh. We would direct the
State of Andhra Pradesh to furnish to the Court at the next
hearing of the writ petitions a list of bonded labourers who
were thus freed and sent back to their homes so that we can
give appropriate directions for their rehabilitation."
Pursuant to these directions, the State of Andhra
Pradesh filed an affidavit and supplied particulars of 1417
persons freed from bonded labour and took the stand that in
regard to the remaining particulars were not available. The
Union of India in the Ministry of Labour and Rehabilitation
also filed its affidavit through Shri J.K. Jain, Under
Secretary in the Ministry. On 7th of March, 1984, this Court
made the following Order:
"The Union of lndia has filed a counter affidavit in
this case a copy of which has been supplied to Mrs.
Hingorani, Advocate for the petitioner. Copies have not yet
been supplied to the Advocate for the State of Andhra
Pradesh and the same may be done immediately. The State of
Andhra Pradesh has filed an affidavit setting out a list of
1417 bonded labourers who have been released and repatriated
to their respective State namely. Orissa. Karnataka and
Tamilnadu......... We would direct the State of Andhra
Pradesh to prepare three separate lists of the released
bonded labourers repatriated to the State of Tamilnadu, the
State of Karnataka and the State of Orissa and supply copies
of these lists to Mrs. Hingorani on behalf of the petitioner
and also a copy of the concerned list to the Advocates
appearing on behalf of the States Tamilnadu and Karnataka.
So far as the State of Orissa is concerned a copy of the
concerned list shall be forwarded to the Chief Secretary of
the State of Orissa and also served on the standing counsel
for the State of Orissa. Notice on the writ petition shall
be served on the State of Karnataka and Orissa and also
additionally on the standing counsel of these two States. We
would direct the State of Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Orissa to
take immediate step for the purpose of rehabilitating these
released bonded labourers who have been repatriated to their
respective States as is shown in the list supplied to them
to inform the court at the next hearing of the writ petition
as to what steps they have taken and are taking to
rehabilitate them.
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It is the obligation of the State Government under the
Bonded Labour Act, l976 to rehabilitate the freed bonded
labourers. We would also suggest to the States of Tamilnadu,
Karnataka and Orissa that in constituting the vigilance
committees which are also to be associated in the work of
rehabilitation of the freed bonded labourers, they should
involve the representatives of social action groups and
voluntary agencies operating in these areas and whatever
rehabilitation is provided to the freed bonded labourers,
must be provided in the presence of a representative of such
social action groups or voluntary agencies so as to ensure
that rehabilitation provisions actually reach the hands of
such labourers. These three State Governments will submit a
report to this Court on or before 13th of April, 1984
On 6th October, 1987, when the matter was again listed
this Court made the following Order:
"On 7th March, 1984, this Court directed the States of
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa to take immediate steps for
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rehabilitating the 1417 bonded labourers released from the
site in Ranga Reddy- district. Directions were also given to
these three States to submit Reports of action taken. We are
surprised that though three and a half years have elapsed,
there has been no compliance on behalf of any of the States.
We are prepared to give one more opportunity to these three
States but on terms of costs.
A copy of the Report furnished by the State of Orissa to
the Registry of this Court dated 4.11.86 is supplied to us
in Court by the counseI for the State of Orissa. which
indicates that 86 freed bonded labourers repatriated from
Andhra Pradesh came to that State. 80 of them have been
rehabilitated. Of the remaining six two left their place of
residence after getting rehabilitation assistance and in
regard to the remaining four, it is stated that they have
left for unknown destination and efforts are on to trace
them.
In the absence of any Report from the States of Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka it is not known as to how many of the
released bonded labourers went to those States and what
happened to them. Counsel for the petitioner makes grievance
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that a complete list of 1417 released bonded labourers has
not been supplied to her in spite of the Court’s direction.
Counsel appearing for the State of Andhra Pradesh who
supplied the particulars to the Court is directed to furnish
such a list to the counsel for the petitioner as also to the
learned Standing Counsel for each of the three States
Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. Each of the States is now
directed within three weeks from today to furnish a complete
affidavit indicating how many of the bonded labourers out of
these 1417 came to the State and the manner of
rehabilitation provided. Unless a compliance report is
furnished as directed above, each of the States shall be
treated to be in contempt of this Court . . . . . . . .
Each of the three States is directed to pay into the
Registry of this Court a sum of Rs. 5,000 by way of costs
for condonation of the lapses and extention of a further
opportunity as indicated above within four weeks."
By way of complying with the aforesaid Order, the State
of Orissa filed an affidavit dated 27th October, 1987. It
stated that as per the particulars provided by the State of
Andhra Pradesh only 86 bonded labourers have been
repatriated to the State of Orissa. According to the
affidavit of the Under Secretary to the Government of
Orissa, Community Development and Rural Reconstruction
Department, one of the six alternatives available for
rehabilitation had to be opted for by the persons to be
rehabilitated and 80 out of these 86 were adequately
rehabilitated by being provided with bullock with cart of
goatery/sheepery and cow or small tailaring Shop, small
grocery shop other small shop or possible combination of the
above options with a cash financial assistance of Rs. 4,000.
Out of the six left out, two had gone away from their place
after partly getting rehabilitation assistance and the
remaining four could not be traced.
The State of Tamil Nadu furnished the particular by an
affidavit through its Deputy Secretary in the Social Welfare
Department. The particulars furnished by the State of Andhra
Pradesh indicated that a total of 1255 bonded labourers had
been repatriated from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu being 556
from Krishna district, 625 from Ranga Reddy and 74 from
Nalgonda. Paragraph 6 of this affidavit states:
"..........1 beg to enclose a true copy of the letter
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as Annexure VI. I beg to submit that subsequent reminders
have also been sent to District Collectors. So far
particulars have been received from some of the District
Collectors and details from other Collectors are awaited."
and extension of three months’ time was asked for. The
affidavit was sworn on the 28th of October, 1987. Later a
further affidavit was filed by the Commissioner and
Secretary to the Government in Social Welfare Department of
the State of Tamil Nadu disclosing arrival of 138 of these
families in Salem. Paragraph 4 gave taluk-wise details of
the families. In this affidavit, it is stated:
"It is submitted that the Government of Tamil Nadu have
since issued orders for the grant of cash assistance from
Cheif Minister’s Public Relief Fund at the rate of Rs. 1,000
per family for the 138 families. It is also proposed to
rehabilitate the bonded labourers as follows:
(i) Supply of quarrying implements like hammer and Crow
bar etc. at the rate of one set for each family free of
cost.
(ii) It is proposed to form an Industrial cooperative
Society. The District Rural Development Agency, Salem is to
purchase two stone crushing machines at Rs. 1.75 lakhs each
of which 50% will be subsidy from Integrated Rural
Development Programme and the remaining 50% as loan from the
Government. Share capital and interest free working capital
loans are to be sanctioned by Government.
(iii) Construction of thatched sheds for the 138
families at Rs. 1,000."
Further affidavits have come from the State of Tamil
Nadu through its different officers but a complete
disclosure has not yet been made in regard to the bonded
labourers who have been repatriated from Andhra Pradesh.
There was, however, no compliance from the State of
Karnataka by the time the matter came up before this Court
on 3rd November: 1987. On that day, the Court made the
following order:
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"Learned Advocate General appearing for the State of
Karnataka requires eight weeks’ further time to comply with
the previous directions. We find that an other States have
complied with the directions. Advocate General assures as
that within this time counter-affidavit will be produced
before the Court. We expect the counsel to deal with the
up-to-date situation. Counsel for the State of Tamil Nadu
states that if given time they will file a better further
affidavit . . . . . ."
In the affidavit of the Deputy Secretary to the
Government in the Social Welfare Department sworn on 31st of
December, l987, on behalf of the State of Tamil Nadu it has
been further submitted that :
"apart from 1255 bonded labourers, the Government of
Tamil Nadu have rehabilitated 825 bonded labourers who were
identified and released from the States of Andhra Pradesh
and Karnataka and settled in Tamil Nadu. In all, 2080 bonded
labourers of the States of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,
including 1255 bonded labourers of Andhra Pradesh covered in
these writ petitions have been given relief measures. The
details are furnished in Annexure II."
Annexure II shows that 1384 freed bonded labour families
have been given a total financial assistance of Rs.
10,21,460 and on the average it works out to Rs.738 per
family which is certainly inadequate for rehabilitation.
Unless there is effective rehabilitation the purpose of this
Act would not be fulfilled. Up-rooted from one place of
bonded labour conditions the persons arc likely to be
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subjected to the same mischief at another place. The net
result would be that the steps taken by this Court would be
rendered ineffective and there would be mounting frustration
because the persons who were up-rooted from a place where
they were working under bonded labour situations.
On 11th of May, 1988, when the matter was adjoured to
18th, of July, 1988, the Court made the following order:
"The matter be called on l8.7.88. In the meantime State
of Karnataka will take further steps to identify the persons
and trace their whereabout. If they are traced out, steps
for their rehabilitation should be taken........".
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We are sorry to indicate that there has been really no
effective cooperation by the State of Karnataka in spite of
several accommodations granted by the Court and assurances
by its counsel.
We have referred to the several orders made by this
Court from time to time during these five years that the
proceedings have been before this Court with a view to
impressing on all the concerned as to how difficult it is to
work out the Act and to give effect to the scheme of
rehabilitation contemplated by the Statute.
Article 23 in the Chapter of Fundamental Rights
provides:
"Traffic in human beings and begar and other similar
forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention
of this provisions shall be an offence punishable in
accordance with law."
Article 42 of the Constitution makes it the obligation
of the State to make provision for securing just and human
conditions of work. There are several other Articles in Part
IV of the Constitution which indicate that it is the State’s
obligation to create social atmosphere befitting human
dignity for citizens to live in. The Bonded labour System
(Abolition) Act of 1976 defines "bonded labour’’ and section
4 thereof makes a statutory declaration that-
"On the commencement of this Act, the bonded labour
system shall stand abolished and every bonded labourer
shall, on such commencement, stand freed and discharged from
any obligation to render any bonded labour."
Detailed provisions have been made for extinguishment of
liability to repay bonded debt, implementing authorities
have been set up, vigilance committees have been provided,
resort to bonded labour has been made an offence and steps
for rehabilitation have also been indicated. Laws, however
beneficial they may be, are difficult to be implemented
unless the requisite social consciousness has grown. The
system of Bonded Labour has prevailed in this country for
centuries. The gap in economic conditions has been the main
cause for this. This Court in Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union
of India, (supra) said:
"The system of bonded labour has been prevalent in
various parts of the country since long prior to the attain-
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ment of political freedom and it constitutes an ugly and
shameful feature of our national life. This system based on
exploitation by a few socially and economically powerful
persons trading on the misery and suffering of large numbers
of men and holding them in bondage is a relic of a feudal
hierarchical society which hypocitically proclaims the
divinity of man but treats large masses of people belonging
to the lower rungs of the social ladder or economically
impoverished segments of society as dirt and chattel. This
system under which person can be bonded to provide labour to
another for years and years until an alleged debt is
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supposed to be wiped out-which never seems to happen during
the life-time of the bonded labourer is totally incompatible
with the new egalitarian socio-economic order which we have
promised to build and it is not only an affront to basic
human dignity but also constitutes gross and revolting
violation of constitutional values."
The society envisaged under the constitutional set-up
can no more take bonded labour as a part of it. Every
citizen must be prepared to accept every other citizen as a
person equal to him for enjoying the social benefits and the
guarantees provided under the Constitution. It must,
therefore, become a conscious obligation of every employer
not to take advantage of the economic disability of a
brother citizen and force him into the system of Bonded
Labour. It must equally be the obligation of every citizen
to cooperate: in bringing about abolition c,r what is
condemned by the laws as Bonded Labour; otherwise, the
beneficial legislation would remain on paper with Mere a
statutory declaration of abolishing bonded labour as
provided in section 4 and yet continue to prevail unabated
in the community. Tolstoy said:
’’The abolition of slavery has gone on for a long time.
Rome abolished slavery. America abolished it and we did, but
only the words were abolished, not the thing. "
Identifying bonded labour is the read difficult task
because very often ever. the workman working under Bonded
Labour system are not prepared to disclose their unfortunate
situation and become a party to its, continuance by
collaborating with the employer.
The concern of this Court in a matter of this type has
been sufficiently indicated in Bandhua Mukti Morcha, case
(supra). Repetition at greater length thereof is perhaps not
PG NO 360
warranted. Twelve years have passed since the law came into
the Statute Book and surprisingly it came 26 years after the
Constitution came into force. In 38 years under the
Constitution, we have not been able to generate appropriate
attitudes and dispositions to live amicably in the polity.
Instead of appropriate consciousness manifesting itself
contra-indications have widely appeared. Even those on whom
the Statute casts the responsibility of implementing the
provisions of the Act do not appear to be in a situation to
respond. It is difficult for the Court to entertain repeated
complaints of this type and devote attention by way of
monitoring the administration of the Act, as has been done
in this case. We are surprised that about three years were
necessary to persuade the State of Andhra Pradesh (where
bonded labour was identified and from where repatriation was
necessary) and the States of Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil
Nadu where rehabilitation was to be provided to perform
their statutory obligations. Here again Karnataka has not
yet done its part. Once notice was issued to them there
should have been immediate response and the obligations cast
under the Statute should have been readily discharged. The
States should have indicated their regrets to the Court that
at their level they had failed to satisfy the requirements
of the law and this Court’s interference has become
necessary. This only shows how unsatisfactory the situation
is. Where the man below the poverty line is a citizen
entitled to all the benefits and protections so eloquently
put into the Constitution. are 38 years not sufficient to
generate the appropriate consciousness’?
Before we part with the case we must again indicate that
there has been no satisfactory c˜compliance in regard to,
rehabilitation by the State ot’ Karnataka. They are given
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two months’ extended time from today to file an affidavit
before this Court that there has been total compliance
regarding rehabilitation in respect of those persons who
come to Karnataka and when that affidavit is filed. the
matter should be placed before us for a further direction by
way of a Civil Miscellaneous proceeding. That matter should
be listed before this Court on 36th October, 1988. We can
only at this stage administer the warning that the matter
shall be very strictly viewed in the event of continued
failure.
We must record our appreciation for the assistance
rendered by Mr. Lakshmidhar Mishra as also the management of
AWARE. Report given by AWARE is indicative of how objective
and at the same time informative can the social activists be
when entrusted with this type of work. Gandhiji once said:
PG NO 361
"The earth has enough for every man’s need but not for
every man’s greed. "
The employer who employs the bonded labour should
remember this statement of the Father of the Nation.
We make no directions for costs at this stage. No
separate orders are necessary in the connected writ
petitions.
H.S.K.