Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the state govt to conduct an inquiry find instances of manual scavenging after 2022. The direction followed after the state clarified that its claim of 36 districts being free of manual scavenging was only until March 2023 when collectors had issued certificates declaring it so. "Now, it has been clarified that the report of the collector referred only to the position of the year 2022 and not as of today.
An inquiry will have to be made regarding the instances of manual scavenging. This is apart from the efforts to ensure that manual scavenging does not take place at all in the first place," said Justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Sathaye on Tuesday. The court was hearing a petition by Shramik Janata Sangh, a workers' union.
On Aug 9, the state informed HC that the Commissionerate of Social Welfare had written to the Centre that all districts in Maharashtra have been freed of manual scavenging. But senior advocate Gayatri Singh and advocate Sudha Bhardwaj, for the Sangh, disputed the state's claim. They said there are instances of manual scavenging.
They referred to a query by the National Human Rights Commission on the deaths of manual scavengers in April. They also referred to other instances of sewer cleaning in April and Aug. Singh asked if there was no manual scavenging as contended, then why was compensation given in 81 cases as per the State's record.
The State's advocate then clarified that the claim of no manual scavenging was only until certificates. The state's affidavit said district-level committees are set up under the Manual Scavengers (Prohibition and Employment) Act, 2013. The judges directed the Social Welfare Department to publish the composition of all committees - state, district, and vigilance – with the names of the members on its website.
The website shall contain details of the actions taken by all committees except where the information is sensitive or protected by any statutory provisions regarding confidentiality. The judges directed that by the next hearing on Sept 9, the state govt shall create a dedicated email and social media handle where citizens and non-governmental organisations can report instances of manual scavenging. "This will aid the social welfare department in its statutory duty to ensure that manual scavenging does not take place," they added.
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