JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

Faculty of law

Project

Provisions Relating to the Employment of Young Persons

Labour Law

Submitted to: Dr. Mohd. Khalid

Submitted by: Shimran Zaman

Roll No. 52

BA.LLB (Self-finance) 6th Semester

AKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to Dr. Mohd.

Khalid, who gave me the golden opportunity to make this wonderful
project of Labour Law on the topic “Provisions relating to the
Employment of Young Persons”, who has helped me in completing my
assignment. I came to know about so many new things I am really thankful
to them.
Secondly, I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped
me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction

2. History

3. Provisions Relating to Young Persons

under The Factories Act, 1948
a. Provision 1: Section 67. Prohibition
of employment of young children
b. Provision 2: Section 68. Non-adult
workers to carry tokens
c. Provision 3: Section 69. Certificate of fitness
d. Provision 4: Section 70. Effect of certificate
of fitness granted to adolescent
e. Provision 5: Section 71. Working
hours for children
f. Provision 6: Section 72. Notice of period
of work for children
g. Provision 7: Section 73. Register of child workers
h. Provision 8: Section 74. Hours of work
to correspond with notice under section 72 and
register under section 73
i. Provision 9: Section 75. Power to require
medical examination
j. Provision 10: Section 76. Power to make rules
k. Provision 11: Section 77. Certain other
provisions of law not barred

4. Other Important Provisions of Factories

Act Relating to Young Persons

5. A Discussion on Child Labour

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography
INTRODUCTION

There has been a rise of a large scale factory industry in India in the later
half of the nineteenth century. Major Moore, the Inspector-in Chief of the
Bombay Cotton Department, in his Report in 1872-73 first of all raised
the questions for the provision of legislation to regulate the working
condition in factories; the first Factories Act was enacted in 1881.
Since then the act has been amended on many occasions. The Factories
Act 1934 was passed replacing all the previous legislation in regard to the
factories. The Act was drafted in the light of the recommendation of the
Royal Commission on Labour. This Act has also been amended suitably
from time to time.
The experience of working of the Factories Act, 1934 had revealed a
number of defects and weakness which have hampered effective
administration of the Act, and the need for the wholesale revision of the
act to extend its protective provisions to the large number of smaller
industrial establishments was felt.
Therefore, the Factories Act, 1948 consolidating and amending the law
relating to labour in factories, was passed by the Constituent Assembly on
August 28, 1948. The Act received the assent of Governor General of
India on 23rd September, 1948 and came into force on 1st April, 1949.
Thus, there are has been certain specific provisions introduced that looks
after the employment of the young person specially. These provisions
have therefore made the employment of the young persons more specific
and these terms are to be followed as the young person or the person who
have attained adolescence cannot be employed in a factory in same terms
as a normal adult would have. The age grouped persons deserve better
conditions and special care even during the course of their employment.
HISTORY

The history of a child labour legislation in India goes back to the

recognition of the child labour issue as a very big problem in the 19th
century. By enacting the provision of the Factories Act in 1881, the
protection of law was first extended to the working children. It is assumed
that the colonial rulers were familiar with dealing with child exploitation
in their own country during the industrial revolution. Another view was
that some of the Indian industrialists, who were traders to begin with,
carried raw-materials for the textile mills in England, especially in
Lancashire, Manchester and Yorkshire, and brought back the finished
textile goods. India ceased to be the market for the textile mills in England
when these industrialists started making cloth in India.
It is also assumed that, to curtail the mushrooming growth of the Indian
textile industry, the Factories Act was mainly legislated though there were
humanitarian motives to protect children. The Indian Factories Act, 1881,
set the minimum age of employment in factories at seven years and
allowed the maximum of nine hours of work per day. It also provided for
at least four holidays in a month and prohibited successive employment of
child workers in two factories on the same day. The act was applicable to
factories employing 100 or more workers and, therefore, gave no
protection to children employed in smaller factories.
The act was amended almost every 10 years, each time, gradually
increasing age of the child. For instance, in 1891, the minimum age was
increased to nine years and the maximum hours of work reduced to seven.
In addition, children were prohibited from working between 8 p.m. and 5
a.m. Legislation prohibiting the employment of children in mines was also
evolved with the passing of the Mines Act 1901 which prohibited the
employment of a child under 12 years in any mine where the conditions
were hazardous to their health, safety and well-being. This act restricted
child employment in open cast mines with depths of less than 20 feet.
In 1911, the Factories Act prohibited the work in certain dangerous
processes and required a certificate of age and fitness. In 1922, the
Factories Act was amended to provide for changes in order to implement
the ILO Convention No. 5 by raising the minimum age to 15 years in
general, restricting working hours to six hours and also providing for
intervals of half an hour if children were employed for more than 5 and a
half hours. This act was applicable to establishments using mechanical
processes employing 20 or more persons.
In 1923, the Indian Mines Act increased the minimum age to 13 years and
restricted the weekly hours of work for children to 54 underground and 60
above ground. It also changed the definition of mine to include any
excavation irrespective of depth used for searching or obtaining minerals.
In 1926, the factories Act was amended to impose certain penalties on
parents and guardians for allowing their children to work in two different
factories the same day.
In 1929, a Royal Commission on Labour was set under the chairmanship
of John Henry Whitley. While reporting the prevalence of child labour in
various parts of the country in the carpet, bidi, textile, match and other
industries, it referred at length to the child labour on plantations and
recommended that owners of tea plantations contribute to the
establishment of factories for ensuring their minimum education. The
Commission recommended the legal prohibition of children below the age
of 10 from work, and to enter the names of all working children in wage
books. Besides recommending that children should not be allowed to work
overtime and take work home, the Commission also prohibited the
pledging of children. On the whole, however, it adopted a conciliatory
approach and recommended cooperation between the government, local
authorities and employers to develop child welfare centers for children.
A variety of legislation resulted from the report of the Royal Commission
of Labour. The Indian Ports Act of 1931 prescribed 12 years as the
minimum age for handling goods in ports. In 1932, the tea Districts
Emigrant Labour Act was passed to check the migration of labourers and
provided that no child under 16 be employed or allowed to migrate unless
the child was accompanied by the parents or adults on whom the child was
dependent.
In 1933, the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, prohibited taking of
advances by parents and guardians in return for bonds, pledging the labour
of their children like bonded labour. The act deemed any such bonded
labour contract as void when the labourer was under 15 years of age.
In 1934, the Factories Act prohibited to work in factories for children
under 12 years and employment was restricted to 5 hours a day for
children between 12 and 15 years long with other restrictions for children
between 15 and 17 years. In 1935, the Mines Act was amended to
introduce divisions of children according to age groups. It raised the
minimum age to 15 years and required a certificate of physical fitness from
a qualified medical practitioner from those between 15 and 17 years of
age. It also restricted working time to a maximum of 10 hours a day and
54 hours a week for work above the ground and nine hours a day for work
underground.
Based on the recommendation of the 23rd session of the International
Labour Conference in 1937 where a convention with a special article
exclusively on India was adopted, and requiring ratification by the Indian
government to prohibit child below 13 years of age to work in certain
categories of employment, the Employment of Children Act, 1938, was
enacted. The act prohibited child labour in the transport of passengers,
goods, mails, by rail or in the handling of goods at docks, quays or
wharves, but excluding transport by hand. The Employment of Children
Act, 1938, was the first act, which directly addressed the problem of child
labour in India.
In 1944, the Labour Investigation Committee, popularly known as the
Rege Committee, observed that child labour increased during war time. It
also found that the child labour aspect was predominant in the bidi-
making, carpet-weaving, glass and other small-scale industries. The report
specially referred to the prevalence of child labour in the match industry
in South India, cement industry in Rajasthan, the spinning industry in
Cochin, and carpet weaving in Kashmir. The Committee recommended
that it was not enough to prohibit the employment of children, but also
essential to simultaneously adopt positive measures to when away from
industrial employment.
The first post-Independence enactment to take into account the problem
of child labour in the country was the Minimum Wages Act passed in
1948. This was probably because the bulk of the children in the country
were employed in agriculture and other sweated industries in the rural and
semi-urban areas. The act defined a ‘child’ to mean a person who had not
completed 14 years of age provided that the appropriate government fixed
different rates of wages for adults, adolescents and children. It also
provided the normal working for a child to be 4 and a half hours and that
no child could be employed or permitted to work overtime. In 1948, the
Factories Act raised the minimum age for employment in factories to 14
years. In 1949, the Employment of Children Act was amended to raise the
minimum age to 14 years for employment in establishments governed by
this act.
In 1954, the Factories Act was amended to include the prohibition of the
employment of persons under 17 years between of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. in
1958, the Merchant Shipping Act prohibited the employment of children
under 15 in any ship except in school ships, in ships where all employees
were members of a family, in a home trade ship of less than 200 tons gross
or where the child was employed at nominal wages and would be in the
charge of the father or other male relative. In 1961, the Motor Transport
Workers Act was passed to prohibit the employment of children under 15
years in motor transport undertakings and this act required adolescent
workers to obtain certificates of fitness. The Merchant Shipping Act and
the Motor Transport Workers Act were later amended to define the child
as being under 14 years by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Act, 1986.
PROVISIONS OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG
PERSONS UNDER THE FACTORIES ACT 1948

After the independence, fresh legislations were enacted to give substance

to the Constitution and the International Conventions. The Factories Act,
1948, extends to the whole of India. It applies to establishments employing
10 or more workers where the manufacturing process is carried out with
the aid of power of 20 or more workers where manufacturing process is
carried out without the aid of power.
A child under the Act is defined as a person who has not completes his
fifteenth year of age. A young person can be defined as either a child or
an adolescent. An adolescent is a person who has completes his fifteen
years but not turned eighteen yet. Chapter VII of The Factories Act, 1948
deals with various such provisions of the employment of young persons.
These provisions shall be discussed below:

• PROVISION 1: Section 67. Prohibition of employment of

young children
A child who has not attained the age of fourteen is prohibited from
working in any kind of factory. Under whatsoever circumstances, even in
the case of an emergency no exemption is permitted to overcome the
provisions of this section.
This is an absolute prohibition and admits of no exception. It is the duty
of the employer to ascertain the age of the children whom he allows to
work in his factory. He cannot depend upon the statement of the applicant.
A child is a person who has not yet completed his fifteenth year of age. As
this section applies only to the children below the age of 14 years, it has
obviously no application to those children between the age of 14 and 15.
 • PROVISION 2: Section 68. Non-adult workers to carry tokens

A child who has completed his fourteenth years or reached adolescence

shall not be required or allowed to work in any factory unless he is given
a certificate of fitness by any competent certifying surgeon. Such a
certificate shall be in the custody of that manager of the factory. The young
person shall carry while during the duration of work a token giving a
reference to such a certificate.
The objective of the section 68 is to prevent the exploitation of the young
labour force.

• PROVISION 3: Section 69. Certificate of fitness

The certificate of fitness is granted by a certifying surgeon on the
application of young person or a guardian. The application must be
accompanied by a document signed by the manager of a factory that the
young person will be employed therein if certified to be fit for work in a
factory. The application for the grant of the certificate of fitness can also
be made by the manager of the factory in which the young person wishes
to work. The certifying surgeon shall examine the young person and
ascertain his fitness for work in a factory.
If the certifying surgeon is satisfied, he may grant or renew to such young
person in the prescribed form:
(a) A certificate of fitness to work in factory as a child, provided he
has completed his fourteenth year, has attained the prescribed
physical standards and is fit for such work;

(b) A certificate of fitness to work in a factory as an adult, provided he

has completed his fifteenth year and is fit for a full day’s work in a
factory.
The certifying surgeon must have personal knowledge of the proposed
place of work and of the manufacturing process involved.
The certificate of fitness is valid only for a period of 12 months. It may be
granted subject to such conditions as regard the nature of the work
involved and periodical re-examination. The certificate may be revoked
by a certifying surgeon if the holder of the certificate is no longer fit to
work. Where certifying surgeon refuses to grant or renew a certificate or
revokes a certificate, he shall state his reasons in writing for so doing.
Any fee payable for a certificate under this section shall be paid by the
occupier and shall not be recovered from the young person, his parent or
guardian.

• PROVISION 4: Section 70. Effect of certificate of fitness

granted to adolescent

An adolescent who has been granted a certificate of fitness to work as an

adult, would be deemed to be an adult and all provisions of the Factories
Act relating to adult workers would apply to him. No female adolescent
or a male adolescent who has not attained the age of seventeen years but
who has been granted a certificate of fitness to work in a factory as an
adult shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except between
6 A.M. and 7 P.M.
Provided that the State Government may by notification in the Official
Gazette, in respect of any factory or group or class or description of
factories:
(i) Vary the limits laid down in this sub-section so that, no such
section shall authorise the employment of any female adolescent
between 10 P.M. and 5 A.M.

(ii) Grant exemption from the provisions of the sub-section in case

of serious emergency where national interest is involved.
An adolescent who has not been granted a certificate of fitness to work in
the factory as an adult shall be deemed to be a child for the purposes of
the Act.
 • PROVISION 5: Section 71. Working hours for children

No Child can be employed or permitted to work in any factory:

(1) For more than four and a half hours in any day;

(2) During the night i.e., a period of at least twelve consecutive hours
including the interval between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

(3) On any day on which he has already been working in any other
factory.
The period of work of all children employed in a factory shall be limited
to two shifts. Such shifts shall not overlap or spread over more than five
hours. Each child must be employed in only one of the relays which must
not be changed more frequently than once in thirty days, except with the
previous permission in writing of the Chief Inspector.
Provision relating to weekly holidays for adults under section 52 will also
apply to child workers. No child can be required or allowed to work in any
factory on any day on which he has already been working in another
factory.
No female child shall be required or allowed to work in any factory except
between 8 A.M. and 7 P.M.

• PROVISION 6: Section 72. Notice of period of work for

children

Every factory must display and correctly maintain a notice of periods work
for children. Such notice should show clearly the periods during which
children may be required or allowed to work. The periods shown in the
notice shall be fixed beforehand as per section 61 regarding period of work
for adults, but there shall be no contravention of the provisions of section
71.
 • PROVISION 7: Section 73. Register of child workers

The manager of every factory in which children are employed shall

maintain a register of child workers showing:
(a) The name of each child worker in the factory

(b) The nature of his work

(c) The group in which he is included

(d) Where his group works on shifts, the relay to which he is allotted

(e) The number of his certificate of fitness

No child worker shall be required or allowed to work in any factory unless
his name other particulars have been entered in the register of child
workers Section73 (1—A)
This register must be made available to the Inspector at all times during
working hours or when any work is being carried on in a factory.
The State Government may prescribe the form of the register of child
workers, the manner in which it shall be maintained and the period for
which it shall be preserved.

• PROVISION 8: Section 74. Hours of work to correspond with

notice under section 72 and register under section 73

No child shall be employed in any factory otherwise than in accordance

with the notice of periods of work for children displayed in the factory and
the entries made before hand against his name in the register of child
workers of the factory.
 • PROVISION 9: Section 75. Power to require medical
examination

An inspector has power to server a notice on the manager of the factory

asking him for the medical examination of the young person who works
in a factory either without a certificate of fitness, or with a certificate of
fitness but is no longer fit to work in that capacity.
Such a young person, shall not, if the inspector so directs, be employed or
permitted to work in any factory until he has been granted certificate of
fitness or fresh certificate of fitness as the case may be or has been certified
by the certifying surgeon examining him not to be a young person.

• PROVISION 10: Section 76. Power to make rules

This section authorises the state Government to make rules:

(a) prescribing the forms of certificate of fitness to be granted under
section 69, providing for the grant of duplicates in the event of loss
of the original certificate, and fixing the fees which may be charged
for such certificates and renewals thereof and such duplicates;

(b) prescribing the physical standards to be attained by children and

adolescents working in factories;

(c) regulating the procedure of certifying surgeons under this Chapter;

(d) specifying other duties which certifying surgeons may be required

to perform in connection with the employment of young persons in
factories, and fixing the fees which may be charged for such duties
and the persons by whom they shall be payable.
 • PROVISION 11: Section 77. Certain other provisions of law not
barred

The provisions relating to the safety of young persons are scattered

through the Act, but for the convenience of the readers are summarised as
under:
1. No young person shall be allowed to clean, lubricate, or adjust any
part of the machinery while it is in motion if it is likely to expose
him to risk of injury from any moving part (Section 22).

2. No young person shall work at any dangerous machine unless:

a) He has been fully instructed as to the dangers arising in
connection with the machine and the precautions to be observed,
and
b) He has received sufficient training in work at the machine or is
under adequate supervision by a person who has a thorough
knowledge and experience of the machine (Section 23).

3. No child shall be employed in any part of a factory for pressing

cotton in which a cotton-opener is at work. This prohibition may be
relaxed in certain cases (Section 27).

4. Where the State Government declares any manufacturing process

or operation in any factory as dangerous or injurious to the health
of young person, it may make rules prohibiting or restricting the
employment of young person in the operation (Section 87).
OTHER IMPORTANT PROVISIONS OF THE
FACTORIES ACT RELATING TO YOUNG PERSONS

Apart from Chapter VII of the Factories Act, there are certain more laws
and provisions that is dealing with employment relating to the young
persons. They are thereby briefly discussed as follows:
1. Section 22(b) states that the factory owners should not allow any
woman or young person to clean, lubricate or adjust any part of a
prime-mover or of any transmission machinery while prime-mover
or transmission machinery is in motion.

2. Section 23 states that no young person can be allowed to work on

any of the machines without being instructed about the dangerous
outcomes and the relevant precautions. Also, before the
appointment, the manager has to see that the worker has relevant
skills and knowledge to work on the machinery or is under the
supervisory of any other worker who has a thorough knowledge on
that machinery.

3. Section 27 states that the factory cannot employ any woman, young
person or a child in any part of a factory for pressing cotton in which
a cotton-opener is at work.

4. Section 79 says that every young person who is a worker who has
worked for a period of 240 days or more in a factory during a
calendar year shall be allowed during the subsequent calendar year,
leave with wages for a number of days calculated at the rate of if a
child, one day for every fifteen days of work performed by him
during the previous calendar year.

5. Section 87 states that where the State Government declares any

manufacturing process or operation in any factory as dangerous or
injurious to the health of the young persons, it may make rules
prohibiting or restricting the employment of young persons in such
operation.
A DISCUSSION ON CHILD LABOUR

Children in Indian society has always been a topic less spoken or

discussed. Children in every society have always been taken as the greatest
gift to humanity. Childhood is an important stage of human development
as it holds the potential to the future development of any society. Children
who are brought up in an environment, which is helpful to their
intellectual, physical and social development go on to be responsible and
productive part of the society.
If we are to engage the children in to work when they are too young for
the task, we are unduly reducing their present welfare or their future
income earning capabilities, either by shrinking their future external
choices or by reducing their future individual productive capabilities.
Generally, it is said that due to economic problems children are forced to
forego educational and other development opportunities and take up jobs
which mostly exploit them as they are usually underpaid and engaged in
hazardous conditions. Parents send their child for a job as a desperate
measure due to poor economic conditions. It is therefore no wonder that
the poor households represent the largest segment contributor of child
labour. One of the key aspects of child labour is that children are sent to
work at the expense of education. There is a strong effect of child labour
on school attendance rates and the length of a child’s work day is inversely
associated with their capacity to attend school. Child labour restricts the
right of children to access and benefit from education and denies the
fundamental opportunity to attend school. Child labour, thus, prejudices
children’s education and also adversely affects their health and safety.
International Labour Organization (ILO) states, the term child labour is
best defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their
potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental
development. It refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or
morally dangerous and harmful to children, or work whose schedule
interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or work that affects in
any manner their ability to focus during school or experience healthy
childhood.
ILO states that child labour may be defined in different ways, and different
definition would yield different estimates of child labour. According to
ILO, children or adolescents who participate in work that does not affect
their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is
not child labour; rather it may generally be regarded as being something
positive. Such harmless work includes activities such as helping their
parents at home, assisting family or earning pocket money outside school
hours and on holidays. Such kinds of activities may contribute to
children’s development by providing them with skills and experience, and
help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their
adult life.
UNICEF definition of child labour is different. A child is involved in child
labour activities if between 5 to 11 years of age, he or she did at least one
hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work in a week,
and in case of children between 12 to 14 years of age, he or she did at least
14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of economic activity
and domestic work per week. UNICEF in another report says, "Children’s
work needs to be seen as happening along a spectrum, one end being
destructive or exploitative work and beneficial work - promoting or
enhancing children’s development without interfering with their
schooling, recreation and rest’ being the other end. And before these two
ends there are vast areas of work that may or may not negatively affect a
child’s development." In India, The Child Labour (Prohibition &
Regulation) Act, 1986 has defined the child as anyone who is “a person
who has not completed his fourteenth year of age”
The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 states that
employment in hazardous industry is prohibited, such industries are
classified into 13 occupations and 57 processes. In the last 5 years, the
number of hazardous processes listed in the schedule of the Act has
increased from 18 to 57 and occupations from 7 to 13.
Also, as per Article 24 of the Constitution, no child below the age of 14
years is to be employed in any factory, mine or any hazardous
employment. Further, Article 39 requires the States to direct its policy
towards ensuring that the tender age of children is not abused and that they
are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their
age or strength. Recently, with the insertion of Article 21A, the State has
been entrusted with the task of providing free and compulsory education
to all the children in the age group of 6-14 years.

CONCLUSION

The present Factories Act in operation for the last 37 years has provided
ample benefits to the factory workers. It has considerably improved their
working and employment conditions. The Government is actively
considering the introduction of some vital amendments to the Act to keep
it in tune with time and make it more effective even for the young persons.
This Act has enlisted certain provisions for the employment of young
persons and under what conditions can they be employed. Failing to meet
these provisions and conditions, the employer will be legally liable to
employ such young person. The assignment not only focusses on the
Chapter VII of the Factories Act but also various other provisions and
sections in the Act that gives rise to the welfare of the young persons
working in the factories. Lastly, the concept of child labour is discussed
in great detail.
It is, however necessary that the workers and their representatives make
themselves aware of the various provisions of the Act and safeguard their
interests on their own and force the defaulting employer to be conscious
of his legal obligations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Meenu Agrawal: Economic Reforms, Unemployment and Poverty,

New Century Publications, New Delhi

2. Dr. S.R. Myneni: Labour Laws, Asia Law House, Hyderabad

3. S. N. Misra: Labour & Industrial Law, Central Law Publication,

Allahabad

4. C. R. Mc Connell & S. L. Brue: Contemporary Labour Economics,

Mc Grow- Hill, New York

5. Jwitesh Kumar Singh: Labour Economics-Principles, Problems and

Practices, Deep & Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi