Non payment of compensation to victims does not absolve govt: Madras HC

Chennai: The Madras high court has said non-payment of compensation to victims of manual scavenging by private owners does not absolve the state government from making the payment and recover the same from persons so liable.

“It is also pointed out by the additional advocate general there are about 16 cases of private owners, where deaths have occurred, but no compensation is paid, though these persons are capable of bearing the expenses for compensation. In this behalf, we are of the view that if that be so, it does not absolve the state government from making the payment and the State government, in turn, would recover the amount from the persons so liable”, said a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana on Monday.

The bench posted for March 17 further hearing on a PIL filed by CHANGE India, represented by its director A. Narayanan, which sought a direction to authorities to implement the various provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act and also to identify the families of those who died in sewer and septic tanks since 1993 and provide compensation of Rs 10 lakh to each of the dependents of the deceased as per the Supreme Court directions.

The Bench said the petitioner drew its attention to the survey of manual scavengers to contend that the identified cases were relating to only three municipalities. The suggestion was that there was possibly no accurate survey done for the other municipalities, where the number was shown to be zero. “We put to the petitioner that if the endeavour is to assail the data given by the State government, at least some illustrative cases should be brought before us showing how the manual scavengers operating in different municipalities have not been enlisted. We are saying so, though we would also have some doubt as to whether in large number of municipalities/corporations, such scavengers would be non-existent. We, thus, simultaneously call upon the State government also to take up a better exercise, especially qua the corporations which seem to be showing the number of scavengers zero”, the bench added.