Court case(1996) 6 SCC 756

Advocate M.C. Mehta filed a public interest petition under Article 32 about the employment of children in the match and fireworks factories of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, the country's largest centre of that industry, where an explosion in 1991 had killed workers and where thousands of children below fourteen worked in dangerous conditions. The Court had earlier, in 1991, given interim directions on safety and insurance. It now took up the wider problem of child labour across the country and asked for reports from all States on the extent of child labour and the steps taken under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

Hansaria J noted that the manufacture of matches and fireworks is hazardous and that Article 24 prohibits the employment of children below fourteen in it absolutely. Recognising that poverty drives children to work, the Court framed a rehabilitation scheme instead of merely ordering prosecution. Every offending employer must pay Rs 20,000 per child employed into a Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund in the district; the State must either provide a job to an adult member of the child's family or deposit Rs 5,000 per child in the fund; the income from the fund goes to the family on condition the child attends school. The State must ensure education for the withdrawn child under Article 45, and in non-hazardous work a child's hours must not exceed six, with at least two hours of education paid for by the employer. States were directed to survey child labour and report compliance.