‘Blot on society’: Bombay High Court orders Rs 60 lakh for Nanded septic tank victims

The bench observed that despite constitutional mandates and judicial directions aimed at ending manual scavenging and protecting workers’ fundamental rights, deaths during sewer and septic tank cleaning operations continue to occur.

“Incidents of death due to manual scavenging compel us to introspect as to how far we have truly realised the constitutional vision of equality, dignity and fraternity,” it added.

The high court was hearing two pleas, which involved a 32-year-old widow seeking compensation for the accidental death of her husband and a 70-year-old mother seeking compensation for her son who died while cleaning a septic tank.

Through advocate Abha Singh, the widow submitted that her late husband worked as a fisherman and also undertook construction and other labour work. He was the sole breadwinner of the family, which included their nine-year-old son. The petitioner added that she was compelled to work as an agricultural labourer on daily wages after her husband’s death.

The other man worked as a daily-wage labourer, engaged in construction and other labour-intensive work. After his death, his parents became dependent on the income of his younger brothers.

Advocate Singh stated that as per the postmortem report, both men died due to asphyxia and drowning while cleaning the septic tank. She said the two had entered the septic tank without any protective gear, and that the owner of the premises had no authorisation from the local authority to carry out the cleaning work.

No compensation despite application to district collector

Singh argued that the petitioners had made a representation to the district collector seeking compensation of Rs 10 lakh each as per the Supreme Court directions in the Safai Karmachari Andolan case, but it had not yet been sanctioned. She added that the men’s family members were facing severe financial hardship after the death of the earning members.

Government lawyer P K Lakhotiya argued that the two men died while cleaning a septic tank in their individual capacity on private premises and that as per a December 2019 government resolution, the liability to pay the compensation was on the private property owner.

However, advocate G R Ingole, appearing for the property’s owner, said his client had already paid Rs 2.25 lakh each in 2022 following an order from the collector, while the liability actually lay on the government authorities.

After hearing submissions and referring to Supreme Court and high court judgments, the bench ordered the compensation and directed authorities to rehabilitate the petitioners within 12 weeks if they are found eligible under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act.