The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that the State is liable to pay Rs 30 lakh as compensation for deaths caused by manual scavenging, even when the deceased workers were employed by private individuals and not by government authorities.
The Division Bench of Justice Nitin Suryawanshi and Justice Vaishali Patil-Jadhav relied on the Supreme Court’s decisions in Safai KaramchariAndolan v. Union of India and Balram Singh, holding that the State’s obligation to compensate victims’ families extends to all manual scavenging deaths, irrespective of whether the workers were engaged by public bodies or private persons.
Referring to its earlier judgment in Vimla Govind Chorotiya, the High Court observed that the Supreme Court had made it clear that compensation cannot be denied merely because the deceased was employed by a private individual. However, the Bench clarified that while the State must initially pay the compensation, it is free to recover the amount from the private house owner responsible for engaging the workers.
The Court expressed deep regret that manual scavenging still exists, calling it a major stain on any civilized society and a clear sign that we have collectively failed to wipe out this cruel, degrading practice.
The observations came while directing the Maharashtra government to pay Rs30 lakh each to the families of two labourers who died in 2021 while cleaning a septic tank at a private residence in Maharashtra’s Nanded district without protective equipment or authorisation. According to the post-mortem reports, both men died due to asphyxia and drowning inside the septic tank
The Bench noted that criminal proceedings had already been initiated against the house owners under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR Act). Although the owners had agreed to pay Rs 2 lakh each in compensation and Rs 50,000 towards funeral expenses, only a part of the promised amount was paid.
After their representations to the District Collector seeking compensation in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directions yielded no relief, the victims’ families approached the High Court.
Rejecting the State’s reliance on a 2019 Government Resolution that placed liability on private employers in such cases, the Court held that the constitutional and statutory responsibility to compensate the victims’ rests with the State. It accordingly directed the Maharashtra government to pay Rs 30 lakh each to the families, while reserving its liberty to recover the amount from the private employer responsible for the illegal engagement of the deceased workers.
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