Taking a grim view of incidents of sewer deaths in the country, the Supreme Court on Friday said government authorities will have to pay Rs 30 lakh as compensation to the kin of those who die while cleaning sewers. The top court also directed the Union Government and state governments to ensure the complete eradication of the practice of manual scavenging.
A bench comprising Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar said those who suffer permanent disabilities while cleaning sewers will be paid Rs 20 lakh as minimum compensation. Pronouncing the judgement in the case Dr.Balram Singh v. Union of India, which is a Public Interest Litigation filed against the employment of manual scavengers, Justice Bhat said the authorities will have to pay up to Rs 10 lakh if the cleaner suffers other disabilities.
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The bench noted that the battle against manual scavenging is not merely about wealth, but about human dignity. "Ours is a battle not for wealth; it is for human dignity. The commitment constitution makers gave - each of us must live up to this, and Union and states must ensure that manual scavenging is completely eradicated, and this stops where these people remain trapped in human sufferings," the bench said.
Issuing a slew of directions, which were not read out, the bench directed that the government agencies must coordinate to ensure that such incidents do not occur and moreover, the High Courts are not precluded from monitoring the cases related to sewer deaths.
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As many as 347 people died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks in India in the last five years with Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi accounting for 40 per cent of these deaths, according to government data cited in Lok Sabha in July 2022. Manual scavenging is banned under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, however, the practice still prevails in many forms even as the Central Monitoring Committee of the Union social justice ministry concluded earlier this year that the issue of manual scavenging has been eliminated.
The hearing for monitoring progress in this matter has been scheduled for February 1, 2024.
