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Need of the hour to register workers: Delhi HC to welfare board
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has said “it is the need of the hour” to complete the registration of construction workers, “on war footing”, so that they can be
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has said “it is the need of the hour” to complete the registration of construction workers, “on war footing”, so that they can be provided relief, in the wake of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The court also directed the Delhi government to ensure that sufficient number of desks or windows are provided, where workers could go and get their forms for registration or renewal of registration filled up and uploaded.
A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar expressed displeasure with the Delhi government’s Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare (BOCWW) Board over the “cumbersome” registration form, lack of assistance from the authority in filling up application forms and no specific timeline for processing the same.
It also declined the Board’s contention that it does not have the money or other means needed to provide assistance to fill up and upload the applications, saying it was “their job to facilitate the same, particularly when they have devised such a cumbersome form which is not even bilingual”.
“We, therefore, direct that the Board should ensure that sufficient number of desks or windows are provided, where workers could go and get their forms for registration or renewal of registration filled up and uploaded,” the bench said. It also said that help can be taken from the Delhi State Legal Services Authority’s (DSLSA) for the purpose.
The directions were issued in a plea by social activist Sunil Kumar Aledia seeking registration of all construction workers in Delhi under the BOCWW Act so that they can be eligible for the monthly ₹5,000 relief the government has been giving to labourers under the ambit of the scheme.
Aledia in his plea, filed through advocate Shiven Varma, has contended that only a small section out of the over 10 lakh workers in the city are registered under the laws regulating their welfare and service conditions and thus, a huge chunk of the labourers are not getting benefits actually meant for them.
The bench also termed as “completely unacceptable” the Board’s stand that it cannot say with certainty the application forms would be examined.
“If this state of affairs is allowed to prevail, the construction workers who are genuinely entitled to register or renew their registration would have to wait endlessly.
“..whereas need of the hour is to complete the process at the earliest on a war footing so that succour could be provided to the construction workers in the wake of the pandemic,” the bench said in its order of Tuesday which was made available on Wednesday.
The court said the Board should ensure it does not unduly delay the entire exercise of registration or renewal of registration, considering the “grave urgency” at present to register and renew the registrations.
It said the renewal process should be simplified. It asked the Board to file an affidavit highlighting the steps taken in compliance with the court’s directions. The matter will now be heard on July 22.
