KSLU Solved Question Papers
Labour Law II
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 6
2022 Apr Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 6 Labour Law II 2022 Apr Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Apr examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Apr examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Articles 23 and 24 of the Indian Constitution are wide enough to encompass various aspects of rights of labourers - Discuss.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the text of Articles 23 and 24 and their place among the Fundamental Rights ("Right against exploitation"); why they are wide: Article 23: traffic in human beings, begar and "other similar forms of forced labour", any compulsion including economic compulsion, binding private employers as well as the State, the exception for compulsory public service (Article 23(2)); Article 24: no child below fourteen in a factory, mine or other hazardous employment, a ban that binds employers directly; the rights of labourers these Articles have been read to cover (minimum wages, release from bondage, rehabilitation, freedom from trafficking, a childhood free of hazardous work); the laws made to enforce them (Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976, Child and Adolescent Labour Act 1986, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, sections 143 and 146); the cases (PUDR, Bandhua Mukti Morcha, Neeraja Chaudhary, M.C. Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu, Bachpan Bachao Andolan); a conclusion.
The two Articles
Article 23(1). "Traffic in human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited". Any breach "shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law".
Article 23(2). The State may still impose compulsory service for public purposes. In doing so it may not discriminate only on grounds of religion, race, caste or class.
Article 24. "No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment."
Both Articles sit in Part III under the heading "Right against exploitation". Their words are short, but the Supreme Court has read them widely.
Why Article 23 is wide
1. It covers more than begar. Begar means work taken without any payment. The Article adds "other similar forms of forced labour". So any labour a person is compelled to give against his will is covered, whether or not he is paid something.
2. Compulsion may be economic. Force need not be physical or legal. A worker may accept less than the minimum wage only because hunger leaves him no choice. That labour is forced labour too.
3. It binds private persons. Most Fundamental Rights restrain only the State. Article 23 also binds private employers, contractors and moneylenders. A worker may move the court against them as well.
4. It reaches trafficking. "Traffic in human beings" covers buying, selling and moving people for exploitation, including trafficking of women and children for sex or labour.
5. It requires a law to punish. Parliament must make breaches an offence. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 do this. So do sections 143 (trafficking) and 146 (unlawful compulsory labour) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.
Why Article 24 is wide
1. A direct ban. The Article itself forbids employing a child below fourteen in a factory or mine. No law is needed to make the ban effective.
2. "Hazardous employment" grows with need. The courts have treated construction work as hazardous. Parliament has gone further, and since 2016 no child below fourteen may be employed in any occupation.
3. It links to the Directive Principles. Article 39(e) and (f) protect the tender age of children. Article 21A gives free and compulsory education from six to fourteen. Article 24 is read with them.
The rights the courts have drawn from them
People's Union for Democratic Rights v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 1473. Workers on the Asian Games sites were paid below the minimum wage, and children worked there. The Supreme Court held that labour for less than the minimum wage, under economic compulsion, is forced labour under Article 23. Article 23 binds private persons. Construction is hazardous employment, so children could not be employed on it under Article 24.
Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, AIR 1984 SC 802. Workers in the Faridabad stone quarries were held in bondage. The Court directed their identification, release and rehabilitation. It held that the right to live with human dignity draws its life from the Directive Principles.
Neeraja Chaudhary v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1984 SC 1099. Labourers released from bondage went home without help. The Court held that release is not enough without rehabilitation, and failure to rehabilitate violates Article 21.
M.C. Mehta v. State of Tamil Nadu, (1996) 6 SCC 756. Children worked in the match and fireworks factories of Sivakasi. To give effect to Article 24, the Court directed employers to pay Rs 20,000 per child into a welfare fund. The Government was to find work for an adult in the family.
Bachpan Bachao Andolan v. Union of India, (2011) 5 SCC 1. Children, many trafficked, were kept in circuses without pay or schooling. The Court ordered a ban on children in circuses, with raids, rescue and rehabilitation.
The labourers' rights covered
Read in this way, the two Articles protect:
- the right to at least the minimum wage;
- freedom from bondage and from debts that bind a worker;
- rehabilitation after release;
- freedom from trafficking for labour or sex;
- freedom of children from hazardous work, and now from all work;
- a remedy against private employers as well as the State.
Conclusion. Articles 23 and 24 are short, but they are wide enough to protect labourers in many ways. Article 23 bans forced labour of every kind, including labour forced by economic need, and binds private employers. Article 24 directly bars children from factories, mines and hazardous work. PUDR, Bandhua Mukti Morcha, Neeraja Chaudhary, M.C. Mehta and Bachpan Bachao Andolan turned them into rights to fair wages, freedom, rehabilitation and childhood.
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