Register FIRs against top civic body o cials for manual scavenging-related deaths: HC
In a signi cant verdict, the Madras High Court has ordered that criminal cases be registered against the Commissioners of Corporations, Municipalities and Panchayat Unions if any death or disability is reported within their jurisdiction due to manual scavenging.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad said that currently, First Information Reports (FIRs) were being registered only in cases of death, that too “by identifying a convenient scapegoat, typically a lowly employee of a contractor”.
“Filing FIRs only against the contractors is not sucient. The FIR should be lodged against the head of the local body in question — the Panchayat, Municipality, Municipal Corporation etc...The heads of the local bodies cannot get away
Filing FIRs only against the contractors was not su icient, the Madras High Court said.
scot-free,” observed.
“In cases arising in Chennai, the senior ocers of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) must also be arrayed as accused,” the Bench ordered. It insisted on the ling of periodic reports before the High Court on FIRs led in connection with manual scavenging.
Passing interim orders on a 2017 public interest litigation petition led by Safai Karamchari Andolan, represented by Senior
the
Bench
Advocate Srinath Sridevan, the judges made it clear that cleaning of septic tanks across the State must be done only through local bodies, which must have dedicated ocers to attend to such work.
“All septic tanks must be cleaned once every year and the local body must maintain a record and nd households and other premises that do not empty every year,” the Bench said, and insisted that the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules must have provisions for both future and legacy septic tanks.
Higher compensation
After nding that the compensation for death due to manual scavenging had been increased from ₹10 lakh to ₹30 lakh through a Government Order issued on January 23, 2024, the Bench ordered that the compensation for those who had died since the ling of the PIL petition in 2017 be enhanced from ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh.
The Bench also took note that the 2024 G.O. had enhanced the compensation for permanent disability to ₹20 lakh and other injuries due to manual scavenging to ₹10 lakh, and ordered that the quantum of the compensation for deaths as well as injuries be revised every three years.
The State government was directed to frame a scheme for o¬ering compassionate employment to the family of those who had died due to manual scavenging and make it applicable from 2017, when the current PIL petition was led by the Safai Karamchari Andolan.
“Manual scavenging must be fully eradicated at least in a phased manner, maybe by the year 2026. In order to rehabilitate [them], the manual scavengers must be provided employment in Group-IV posts according to their quali cation by the government,” the court ordered.