Chennai:
Revenue divisional officers in the state will not have the power of a
judicial magistrate to conduct trial under the Bonded Labour System
Abolition Act, 1976, after Madras High court struck down Section 21 of
the Act.
After hearing a petition filed by a bonded labourer Ganjendran, Madras
High Court acting chief justice Satish K Agnihotri and justice M
Sathyanarayanan said that Section 21 of Bonded Labour System Abolition
(BLSA) Act, which gives powers to RDO to conduct trials instead of
judicial magistrate, is in violation of Article 14, 21 and 50 of
constitution of India.
Stating that the conferring such power to RDO is unjust, unfair and
also confronting to the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, the
judges struck down Section 21 of BLSA Act besides quashing a
Government Order passed by the state government on July 1987
conferring the power of a judicial magistrate of the First class on
all RDOs in the state and on all Tahsildars independent charge of
taluks in the state for the trial of offences under the Act.
The judges also directed the jurisdictional RDOs to transfer the
criminal cases along with relevant records instituted under the said
Act to the file of Chief Judicial Magistrate, who in turn were
directed to transfer the cases to the judicial magistrates.
The court observed that on such transfers, judicial magistrates shall
make every endeavour to dispose the cases as expeditiously as
possible.
Stating that a trial should inspire confidence, the High court
observed such a procedure is invalid, and unjust and violation of
principles of natural justice.
Ganjendran, a bonded labourer for 15 years (1990-2005) in a rice mill
in Kilambakkam village in Thiruvallur district, in his petition said
that during he was made to work 13 hours a day and paid a low wage of
Rs 7 and Rs 10 per day. Interestingly, the wages were withheld by
Mohamadabee and one Kaleel as debt.
While the ordeal of Ganjendran ended on March 10, 2005 following the
inspection by tahsildar and RDO under the direction of district
collector, the trial has yet to resume despite an FIR filed by the
police.
“From 2006 till now, the case has remained in its preliminary stages
without a trial date being fixed,” the petitioner told the court.
He also stated that nine more cases are still pending with RDO Thiruvallur.
Revenue divisional officers in the state will not have the power of a
judicial magistrate to conduct trial under the Bonded Labour System
Abolition Act, 1976, after Madras High court struck down Section 21 of
the Act.
After hearing a petition filed by a bonded labourer Ganjendran, Madras
High Court acting chief justice Satish K Agnihotri and justice M
Sathyanarayanan said that Section 21 of Bonded Labour System Abolition
(BLSA) Act, which gives powers to RDO to conduct trials instead of
judicial magistrate, is in violation of Article 14, 21 and 50 of
constitution of India.
Stating that the conferring such power to RDO is unjust, unfair and
also confronting to the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, the
judges struck down Section 21 of BLSA Act besides quashing a
Government Order passed by the state government on July 1987
conferring the power of a judicial magistrate of the First class on
all RDOs in the state and on all Tahsildars independent charge of
taluks in the state for the trial of offences under the Act.
The judges also directed the jurisdictional RDOs to transfer the
criminal cases along with relevant records instituted under the said
Act to the file of Chief Judicial Magistrate, who in turn were
directed to transfer the cases to the judicial magistrates.
The court observed that on such transfers, judicial magistrates shall
make every endeavour to dispose the cases as expeditiously as
possible.
Stating that a trial should inspire confidence, the High court
observed such a procedure is invalid, and unjust and violation of
principles of natural justice.
Ganjendran, a bonded labourer for 15 years (1990-2005) in a rice mill
in Kilambakkam village in Thiruvallur district, in his petition said
that during he was made to work 13 hours a day and paid a low wage of
Rs 7 and Rs 10 per day. Interestingly, the wages were withheld by
Mohamadabee and one Kaleel as debt.
While the ordeal of Ganjendran ended on March 10, 2005 following the
inspection by tahsildar and RDO under the direction of district
collector, the trial has yet to resume despite an FIR filed by the
police.
“From 2006 till now, the case has remained in its preliminary stages
without a trial date being fixed,” the petitioner told the court.
He also stated that nine more cases are still pending with RDO Thiruvallur.
No comments:
Post a Comment