HC initiates suo motu PIL on death of two men inside sewer in Outer Delhi

The two men died after being trapped in a sewer while it was being cleaned in Outer district’s Bakkarwala.

The court said it was “unfortunate” that necessary steps for ensuring the safety and security of the couple were not initiated by the police station concerned. (File)

The Delhi High Court Monday took suo motu note of a news report stating that a sweeper and a security guard died last week in Mundka after they inhaled toxic gases inside a sewer the former had gone down to clean.

“It is brought to the notice of this Court that one sweeper and a security guard fell into a drainage as they were attempting to clean the clogged drainage,” said the division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad in its order, while referring to publication of a news report in a national daily on September 11.

Ordering registration of a public interest litigation on the case, the court issued notice to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government and the Delhi Jal Board. “Mr Rajshekhar Rao, learned Senior Counsel, is appointed as Amicus Curiae to assist this Court in the matter,” it said, while listing the PIL for hearing on September 21.

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“There is a Supreme Court judgment on the subject which says the moment the death takes place of a person who was manually doing this scavenging work, the family is entitled to Rs 10 lakh immediately and a job to one of the member of the family,” observed Justice Sharma, while asking Rao to assist the court.

Justice Sharma said he previously decided identical cases in Karnataka and Telangana.

The two men died after being trapped in a sewer while it was being cleaned in Outer district’s Bakkarwala. The incident took place on Friday afternoon last week at a DDA apartment complex in Pocket D, Loknayak Puram. Police said the victims were identified as Rohit Chandilya (32), a private sweeper who worked at the complex, and Ashok (aged between 28 and 30 years), a guard with the DDA who tried to rescue Chandilya.

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