The Delhi High Court has suggested the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers (DBOCW) Welfare Board to suspend the collection of information about the family members with their Aadhaar Cards details at a time when there is a rush as well as urgency for grant of renewal of labour registrations amid COVID 19 Pandemic.
The bench comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar was hearing a petition filed by Social activist Sunil Kumar Aledia seeking directions to provide relief and mandated benefits to workers and migrant labourers.
The petitioner has also sought directions to the appropriate authorities to ensure that all the construction workers whose names have been filed by construction companies and employers with the Labour Department are timely registered as beneficiaries under the Building and other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act.
The court order came after another petitioner counsel Shyel Trehan told the court that the application form – presently in use, requires the applicant to disclose particulars of his family members along with their Adhaar Card numbers. Advocate Trehan has also submitted various grievance faced by labours while filling up the renewal forms.
The bench suggested that applications for renewal should be entertained even without details of family members of the applicant and directed the Board to delete the said column from the Application form required to be filled for renewal of registration.
The bench further directed that the workers must be given a reasonable time for renewal purpose.
The bench has further directed the Board to carry out the necessary amendments in their on-line Application Form for registration and renewal of registration in accordance with the directions of the Court and to submit a compliance report on the next date of hearing.
The matter has been listed for next hearing on July 9.
-India Legal Bureau