Violative Of Child Labour Rules: Karnataka High Court Backs Sahitya Akademi's Job Offer Withdrawal To 15 Yr Old

The Karnataka High Court has upheld the decision of the Sahitya Akademi to withdraw the job offer letter given to a minor aged about 15 years and 6 months at the time of his appointment. “The prohibition under the provisions of Rule 2B of the Child Labour Amendment Rules, 2017 is applicable to the case on hand and accordingly, the respondents-academy rightly withdrawn the appointment.” The petitioner had approached the court seeking to quash two orders withdrawing his appointment as a Sales-cum-Exhibition Assistant issued by the second respondent. The court pointed out that such an age would violate Rule 2B of the Child Labour Amendment Rules which prohibited the employment of individuals below a certain age, and the respondents were justified in withdrawing the appointment based on these regulations. “The petitioner was aged about 15 years 6 months and therefore, the petitioner cannot be appointed to the said post by an organisation, much less the respondents herein, Ministry of Culture, Government of India.” Consequently, the court ruled in favour of the respondents, upholding the withdrawal of the petitioner's appointment.