Protest against apex court rulings

Criticising some of the major rulings of the apex court which they claim have forced thousands of workers to the verge of starvation, they said “whatever work the government is unable to do, is being done by the judiciary.”

In Delhi, they said, where the issue of pollution has been adopted by the Supreme Court as its very own, the apex court has not concerned itself with the effects of pollution on the workers employed in these industries. Their medical status has not been evaluated and no compensation on medical grounds has been given, they said.

“In the case of PUDR verses Union of India (1982) and in several other cases, the apex court itself has held that the Right to People (Article 21) include health. If the right to a pollution free environment is the right of citizens, are not the workers employed in these industries citizens? Why did this aspect simply not exist for the court”, they asked.

Citing the example of 35-year-old Sravesh Chandra, an employee of Swatantra Bharat Mills who immolated himself on May Day last year in protest against non-payment of wages, they said, there are lakhs of retrenched employees of various industries, either closed or shifted following apex court direction, who have yet to be paid their wages and other benefits.

Ironically, neither the judiciary nor the administrative machinery have initiated any measures so far for their cause, they said. The apex court, last year, had closed as many as 168 industries in the Capital. Though about 25,000 retrenched workers are yet to be paid their salaries and compensations, the land is being used for commercial purposes, they alleged.

Ironically, they claim,“Neither the Supreme Court nor the law enforcement agencies have initiated any action against the owners.”. Similarly, the court has empowered the administration to increase school fees by 40 per cent. However, it failed to direct the authorities to increase the salary of teachers and other employees working in such schools.