(1) The District Magistrate shall –
(i) specify such officers subordinate to him, as he considers necessary, to be called nodal officers, who shall exercise all or any of the powers and perform all or any of the duties of the District Magistrate conferred and imposed on him by the Central Government under section 17A;
(ii) assign such powers and duties, as he thinks appropriate, to a nodal officer to be exercised and performed by him within his local limits of jurisdiction as subordinate officer;
(iii) preside over as chairperson of the Task Force to be formed in a district consisting of –
(a) Inspector appointed under section 17 for the purposes of his local limits of jurisdiction;
(b) Superintendent of Police for the purposes of his local limits of jurisdiction;
(c) Additional District Magistrate for the purposes of his local limits of jurisdiction;
(d) nodal officer referred to under clause (i) for the purposes of his local limits of jurisdiction;
(e) Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central) for the purposes of his local limits of jurisdiction;
(f) two representatives each from a voluntary organisation involved in rescue and rehabilitation of employed children in the district on rotation basis for a period of two years;
(g) a representative of the District Legal Services Authority to be nominated by the District Judge; (h) a member of the District Anti-trafficking Unit; (i) Chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee of the District;
(j) District Child Protection Officer in the District under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme of the Ministry of the Government of India dealing with women and child development;
(k) District Education Officer; (l) any other person nominated by the District Magistrate;
(m) Secretary of the Task Force shall be any of the nodal officers referred to in clause (i) and nominated by the Chairperson.
(2) The Task Force referred to in clause (iii) of sub-rule (1) shall meet at least once in every month and shall make a comprehensive action plan for conducting the rescue operation, taking into account the time available, point of raid in accordance with the law for the time being in force, confidentiality of the plan, protection of victims and witnesses and the interim relief, in accordance with the guidelines for rescue and repatriation issued by the Central Government from time to time; and the Task Force shall also cause to upload the minutes of such meeting on the portal created for such purpose by the Central Government.
(3) In addition to the duties referred to in sub-rule (1), the District Magistrate shall ensure through nodal officers that the children and adolescents who are employed in contravention of the provisions of the Act are rescued and shall be rehabilitated –
(a) in accordance with the provisions of –
(i) the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (2 of 2016) and the rules made there under;
(ii) the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 (19 of 1976);
(iii) the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers, 2016;
(iv) any National Child Labour Project;
(v) any other law or scheme for the time being in force under which such children or adolescents may be rehabilitated; and subject to -
(I) the directions, if any, of a court of competent jurisdiction;
(II) the guidelines for rescue and repatriation issued by the Central Government from time to time in this regard.
