1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called 2
[the Child and Adolescent
Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986].
(2) It extends to the whole of India.
(3) The provisions of this Act, other than Part III, shall come into force at once, and Part III shall come
into force on such date3
as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint,
and different dates may be appointed for different States and for different classes of establishments.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
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[(ia)]“appropriate Government” means, in relation to an establishment under the control of the
Central Government or a railway administration or a major port or a mine or oilfield, the Central
Government, and in all other cases, the State Government;
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[(i) “adolescent” means a person who has completed his fourteenth year of age but has not
completed his eighteenth year;]
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[(ii) “child” means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age or such age as may
be specified in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (35 of 2009),
whichever is more;]
(iii) “day” means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at mid-night;
(iv) “establishment” includes a shop, commercial establishment, workshop, farm, residential hotel,
restaurant, eating house, theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment;
(v) “family”, in relation to an occupier, means the individual, the wife or husband, as the case may
be, of such individual, and their children, brother or sister of such individual;
(vi) “occupier”, in relation to an establishment or a workshop, means the person who has the
ultimate control over the affairs of the establishment or workshop;
(vii) “port authority” means any authority administering a port;
(viii) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under section 18;
(ix) “week” means a period of seven days beginning at midnight on Saturday night or such other
night as may be approved in writing for a particular area by the Inspector;
1. Subs. by Act 35 of 2016, s. 2, for the long title (w.e.f. 1-9-2016).
2. Subs. by s. 4, ibid., for “the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (61 of 1986)” (w.e.f. 1-9-2016).
3. 26th May, 1993, vide notification No. S.O. 333(E), dated 26th March, 1993, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II,
sec. 3(ii).
4. Clause (i) renumbered as clause (ia) thereof by Act 35 of 2016, s. 4 (w.e.f. 1-9-2016).
5. Ins. by s. 4, ibid. (w.e.f. 1-9-2016).
6. Subs. by s. 4, ibid., for clause (ii) (w.e.f. 1-9-2016).
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(x) “workshop” means any premises (including the precincts thereof) wherein any industrial
process is carried on, but does not include any premises to which the provisions of section 67 of the
Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), for the time being, apply.