Mandatory Time-Bound Recovery of Back Wages for Rescued Child Labourers as Arrears of Land Revenue

The petitioners are mothers of three minor girls rescued during a child labour raid on 09.05.2023.

Following the rescue, the Joint Labour Commissioner (West) computed the back wages owed by the employers on 10.05.2023.

An FIR was subsequently registered under Sections 75/79 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and Sections 3/14 of the Child and Adolescent Labour Act, 1986.

Despite multiple representations to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and labour authorities, the respondents failed to recover the computed wages from the employers, who are currently untraceable.

1. Whether the respondents are mandated to recover pending back wages of rescued child labourers within a specific timeline as per established judicial precedents.

2. What procedure must the authorities follow when employers responsible for paying back wages are untraceable.

The court primarily applied the directives established in Kaum Faqeer Shah v. Ministry of Labour and Employment & Ors. (2024) and Walter Kerketta v. SDM - Delhi South East Dist. (2018).

These precedents dictate that the Labour Department must initiate recovery proceedings immediately post-rescue, issuing recovery certificates if wages are not deposited within two weeks.

Under these rules, back wages are to be recovered as arrears of land revenue by the concerned SDM, with a final recovery deadline of three months from the issuance of the recovery certificate.

The Court observed that despite the lapse of a considerable period since the rescue and computation of wages in May 2023, the State had failed to implement the recovery mechanism mandated by the Kaum Faqeer Shah guidelines.

The Court emphasized that the procedural timeline—specifically the issuance of recovery certificates and the treatment of wages as arrears of land revenue—is non-discretionary.

Addressing the Respondents' claim that employers were untraceable, the Court reasoned that the SDM cannot remain passive; rather, there is an affirmative duty to liaise with police authorities to investigate and locate the defaulters to ensure the statutory and judicial objective of rehabilitation is met.

The SDM was specifically ordered to liasion with the Delhi Police to trace the whereabouts of the employers, and the Police were directed to proactively investigate the same.

The Court held that the recovery must be completed expeditiously, preferably within three months (by the next hearing date of 28.10.2026), and mandated the filing of a compliance affidavit.