New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 29) came down heavily on the Union government over ambiguity in eradication of manual scavenging in the country and passed an order banning the practice in six metropolitan cities.
Referring to the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993, the top court remarked that it was “fed up” with seeking compliance which remains merely academic in nature, LiveLaw reported.
“Therefore, we hereby order manual sewer cleaning and manual scavenging shall be stopped in all top metropolitan cities as follows: Metropolitan city of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad,” the court order read.
The court directed the chief executive officer, or an officer of equivalent designation, of each metropolitan city to file a precise affidavit by February 13 with details on how and when the practice is stopped in their city.
The court’s order has come in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Balram Singh, who raised issues regarding the 1993 Act and how it has remained unimplemented.
“Can we say it today that manual scavenging from today onwards is banned?…We are fed up of order. We are directing. Either do it or face consequences,” the court said.
State inaction
On December 11 last year, a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar had directed the Union government to call a meeting of the Central Monitoring Committee along with the respective states’ stakeholders within two weeks to assess the extent of compliance with the court’s October 2023 order.
Based on the 2023 order, the Union government had filed a status report which the court had found to be “not encouraging at all”.
On Wednesday, the Union government filed a fresh affidavit stating that 456 of the 775 districts in the country no longer practiced manual scavenging. When Justice Kumar asked how the NCT Delhi has performed, it was informed that it has not complied with the order, LiveLaw reported.
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Amicus curiae and senior advocate K. Parameshar said that the data presented an “erroneous picture” as some districts had not constituted a committee mandated by the law, while others had provided data prior to the committees’ establishment.
Parameshar said that the central committee had last met on October 19, 2024. The states and Union Territories were asked to constitute a committee and conduct a national survey of manual scavengers which is yet to be completed, he added.
In its October 2023 order, the court had asked all states and UTs to ensure that their guidelines and frameworks reflected those of the Union government. “All States and Union Territories are likewise, directed to ensure that all departments, agencies, corporations and other agencies (by whatever name called) ensure that guidelines and directions framed by the Union are embodied in their own guidelines and directions; the states are specifically directed to ensure that such directions are applicable to all municipalities, and local bodies functioning within their territories,” the order read.
Parameshar said that these guidelines were not in place till date.
‘Motivated sewer entry professionals’
Senior advocate Jayna Kothari questioned the Union government’s affidavit citing cases where a person had to enter a sewer if it was too small to be cleaned in other ways. “They have stated ‘motivated sewer entry professionals’ [in their affidavit]. Is this what we call humans who are being killed?” Kothari asked.
Additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati responded that all states were not in a position to eradicate the practice and that is why the court’s order was to be implemented in a graded manner.
Justice Kumar said that unless manual scavenging is completely eradicated, persons will be compelled to enter the sewer and if he does so, he must have all adequate equipment.
