Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the state government to create dedicated email addresses and social media handles to enable citizens and non-governmental organisations to report instances of manual scavenging. These channels will be established in the names of district and vigilance committees set up to eradicate the banned practice.
The court said that the move will help the social welfare department in its statutory duty to ensure that manual scavenging does not take place. A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Sathaye has said that the creation of email address and social media handle and uploading information on the websites must be done by the next date of hearing on September 9.
The HC was hearing a petition by Shramik Janata Sangh, highlighting the “plight” of manual scavengers in the state, despite the government's claim that the practice has been eradicated. During the previous hearing, state Advocate PP Kakade had claimed that all 36 districts in Maharashtra have been declared free of manual scavenging based on certificates submitted by collectors.
Senior Advocate Gayatri Singh, appearing for the petitioner, pointed out incidents of manual scavenging and reports of fatalities even after the issuance of these certificates. The petition also cited the query raised by the National Human Rights Commission regarding the death of workers in April 2024. It also referred to other incidents of sewer cleaning in April and August 2024. “If no manual scavenging is carried out as contended, then why was compensation given in 81 cases as per the state record itself,” Singh asked.
Later, Kakade clarified that the certificates “referred only to the position of 2022 and not as of today”. The bench then said: “... an inquiry will have to be made regarding the instances of manual scavenging. This is apart from the efforts to ensure that practice does not take place at all.”
The HC also directed the social welfare department to publish the composition of all committees formed under the Anti-Manual Scavenging Act on its website, including details of the actions taken by them. The court said that meetings of the vigilance committees must be held on time, their agendas should be circulated in advance and the outcomes of such meetings must be documented for transparency.
