Gujarat High Court: Stayed Municipality Commissioner, Chief Officer, Sarpanch To Be Held Liable If Any Worker Is Engaged For Manual Scavenging

The Gujarat High Court in the case Manav Garima v. State of Gujarat observed and has stated that the Municipal Commissioner of Corporation, Chief Officer of concerned Municipality and Sarpanch of concerned Gram Panchayat will be held liable if any of the worker is engaged for cleaning sewers.
The division bench comprising of Acting Chief Justice A.J. Desai and Justice Biren Vaishnav in the case observed and has stated that this court made it clear that till the next date of hearing, if any of the worker whose services have been availed by any of the Municipal Corporation, any Municipality or any Gram Panchayat for cleaning sewerage in the concerned area, the Municipal Commissioner of concerned Corporation, Chief Officer of concerned Municipality and Sarpanch of concerned Gram Panchayat shall be held liable for the action, as such activities have been banned by the Government Resolution dated June 21, 2014.
In the present case, the court in the case was hearing a Public Interest Litigation moved, wherein seeking the proper implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and Rules made therein and also for the payment of proper compensation to the workers who lost their lives due to manual scavenging.
Therefore, the Gujarat Government in the case banned the practise of manual scavenging on 21.06.2014. Further, it has been submitted before the court that 152 persons have lost their lives pursuant to unfortunate incident in which the deceased workers were also been asked to clean the sewerage by entering there into. Further, it has been submitted by the State in the case that it has disbursed the amount of compensation to the legal heirs of 137 persons.
Adding to it, the State also submitted that the said authorities are trying to find out the details of the legal heirs of those deceased workers, who lost their lives in cleaning sewerage.
Further, the court in the case observed and has directed the State to distribute the amount of compensation as per the scheme of the Government Resolution to the legal heirs of the deceased workers till the next date of hearing.
Accordingly, the court listed the matter to be next heard on June 19, 2023.