NHRC Flags 84 Bonded Labour Cases; Haryana Officials Report No Ground Detection
Haryana district magistrates informed the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) during a virtual meeting that none of the 84 bonded labour cases flagged by the commission could be detected when inspection teams visited the sites. The meeting, convened by the NHRC to review the complaints, included the Haryana Chief Secretary and top labour department officials.
NHRC Chairperson Expresses Dissatisfaction with Previous Responses
NHRC Chairperson Justice V Ramasubramanian (Retd) said the commission decided to issue a detailed advisory after finding the state's earlier responses unsatisfactory. "We had called a virtual meeting with Haryana officials after we found their previous responses to the matter unsatisfactory. When we received these 84 complaints of bonded labour mostly across Haryana’s brick kilns, we issued notices to district magistrates concerned. They wrote back saying they could not find any case of bonded labour in the state in their inspections. We were not satisfied with the replies and so this virtual meeting was called today. All DMs attended and all stuck to their previous stand that no case of bonded labour could be found in Haryana upon ground inspection," Justice Ramasubramanian said.
Admission of Non-Compliance with SOPs
The NHRC noted that Haryana officials admitted inspection teams were not constituted with independent witnesses, as required under standard operating procedures (SOPs). The commission will now issue an advisory to Haryana and all states to follow proper SOPs for constituting inspection teams to assess bonded labour cases. The advisory will also recommend that inspectors compare production volumes at a unit with the number of registered workers. "If the volumes are high and worker numbers are low there is a clear presumption of bonded labour because there is a mismatch," Justice Ramasubramanian explained.
Review of Bonded Labour Cases Across States
The NHRC recently held a similar meeting on bonded labour in Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of cases at 216. After Haryana, the commission will review cases in Punjab. Justice Ramasubramanian lamented that despite the Bonded System Abolition Act enacted in 1976, the practice persists and state governments struggle to detect cases. He noted that all three pillars of democracy—Parliament, judiciary, and executive—have intervened, with laws, court orders, and SOPs in place.
