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The Single Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh, while addressing a matter concerning the protection of migrant workers, held that there is dire need to create a mechanism for the registration of migrant workers so that they can be protected and benefits of relevant Acts can be passed onto them.
The present petition was filed to seek the implementation of Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 by Mr Shashank S Mangal.
In the last hearing, the court had directed both the Delhi Government as well as the Centre to submit detailed status reports indicating the data related to migrant workers and the procedures laid down for their registration.
In today's hearing, the Delhi Government pursuant to the last order of the Court placed on record an affidavit stating that as far as the 1979 Act is concerned, there are no registered contractors under the said Act.
In so far as the registration of Migrant Workers under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, Delhi Government had disclosed that there are various schemes which are available for construction workers.
Further, it has been submitted the registration of these workers takes place through the e-district portal. It was also submitted by the Delhi Government that in the lockdown period, 39,600 registered construction workers were disbursed financial assistance.
In addition to this, the Union of India submitted that a video conference was held on 16th June 2020 by the Ministry of Labour and Employment with the aim to prepare a uniform registration format with software for portability across the country to allow registration of migrant workers.
Delhi Government also informed the Court that the Shramik helpline was made operational throughout the lockdown period to assist the migrants.
It was further mentioned that despite the fact that the Shram Suvidha portal of the Central Government does provide registration and issue license under the 1979 Act, no contractor or employer working in NCT Delhi has made an application for issue of registration or grant of a licence
In light of these submissions, the court noted that:
'A perusal of the above two reports/notes shows that there is a dire need for creating a mechanism for registration of migrant workers. Though some progress appears to have been made under the BOCW Act, registration/grant of licences under the 1979 Act is almost negligible, if not nil. This position needs to be altered and solved in order to ensure that migrant labour is adequately protected in terms of the Acts and benefits meant for them are also passed on to them.'
Therefore, the court that directed the Central Government to file a detailed affidavit in terms of the kind of portal which is sought to be created, for the registration of migrant labour throughout the country. Such a portal ought to have onboard all the state governments so that the inflow and the outflow of migrant labour are duly recorded and reported.
The court will next take up the matter on July 22.
[Shashank S. Mangal v. GNCTD, WP (C) No. 3324 of 2020 and CM Appl. 11679 of 2020, decided on 29-06-2020]
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