Have monitoring panels as required under law to prohibit manual scavenging been set up: HC asks State

MUMBAI: Bombay high court recently directed the State to inform by May 7 whether municipal corporations of Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali and Mira-Bhayander have set up various monitoring committees mandated by a decade old law aimed at prohibiting employment of persons as Manual Scavengers and their rehabilitation.
In July 2023, the HC had directed BMC to give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of dead sewage workers under a civic policy.Senior counsel Gayatri Singh said there was one more unfortunate death.
The HC was hearing a petition by a father of a worker who died while manual scavenging and by Shramik Janata Sangh, an association espousing the cause of manual scavenging workers.
A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and MM Sathaye said the issue needs to be looked at ain a wider spectrum as it is not possible for the court to monitor each individual case. The idea is to see that the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 is implemented “in its fullest rigour’’ in Maharashtra, said the HC in an April 16 order available on April 24.
The first step that needs to be taken to address the wider issue, is to ensure that the statutory authorities constituted under the Act of 2013 are established and are functional and have the requisite manpower and necessary administrative setup, said the HC.
The HC thus after hearing Singh and State government pleader PP Kakade directed State to appoint a nodal officer who can coordinate with all necessary departments and file an affidavit to state “Whether State Monitoring Committee, Vigilance Committees, State Level Survey Committee, District Level Survey Committee and Sub Divisional Committee at Divisional Level, as aforesaid, have been constituted in the State of Maharashtra ?’’ If they are not so constituted, what steps does the Government intends to take to constitute these committees and the time frame, the HC directed the State to inform. In Phase I, the HC said it was looking at only BMC and civic bodies of Thane, Mira-Bhayandar and Kalyan-Dombivli.