Mumbai: Ruing the prevalence of manual scavenging in the country, Bombay HC said India is boasting about having reached the moon’s unexplored side while some of its citizens continue to be subjected to work “below human dignity” under the guise of the caste system.“In the 21st century, we boast about reaching the other side of the moon. Yet, the hard reality that stares us in the face is that the social evil of the caste system is still followed in our country, which forces some of our citizens to do work that is below human dignity. Though the Constitution guarantees all its citizens, equality before the law and equal protection of the law, even after 75 years of adopting the Constitution, our country is not free from the social evil that has haunted us for ages,” observed Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande.“Manual scavenging is one such practice… which forces a particular class of community to undertake this inhumane practice for generations, in spite of prohibition imposed on it by various judicial pronouncements of Supreme Court and statutes,” the judges said in an Aug 13 judgment that was uploaded on Thursday.HC’s observations were made in a recent judgment on a petition over failure of state/local authorities to implement Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.HC set aside the state’s decision in two GRs and held that deceased sanitation workers employed by private contractors/sector shall be entitled to receive from the state govt Rs 30 lakh in compensation, as directed by Supreme Court, which the state can recover from the respective employers.The petition was filed by Shramik Janata Sangh, a workers’ union, along with Raju Madhve, father of Suraj who died while cleaning a septic tank in a Mumbra housing society in 2022, and writer Shreyas Pande. Senior advocate Gayatri Singh argued that the GR fixed the responsibility on private contractors/employers to pay compensation instead of state/local authorities.The state’s advocate had earlier said that 36 districts had been declared free of manual scavenging and certificates had been submitted by collectors in Aug 2023, but at a hearing in Aug 2024, he said the “position” was as of the date of issuance of the certificates. Citing instances of continued manual scavenging, the petitioners said contrary to the record, the state had disbursed Rs 10 lakh compensation in 81 cases.“Thus, it can be inferred that the state is not successful in fully eradicating the social evil, i.e. of manual scavenging…” the judges added. They noted while “there were partial compliances” by the state, they “are pained to observe that instrumentalities of the state are making half-hearted attempts.The judges also directed dependents of five deceased sanitation workers, whose cause was espoused by the petitioners, would also receive Rs 30 lakh compensation.
