Plea against manual scavenging in Delhi

In his plea, an advocate said there were instances when civic bodies engage people for cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the capital, either directly or indirectly by outsourcing the work to private contractors.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said it would hear a plea seeking strict compliance of provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 on April 26 after the Delhi government has taken instructions on a video on manual scavenging.

The court directed the government counsel to take instructions and fixed the matter for April 26. (Ravi Choudhary/HT PHOTO)

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani passed the order while hearing a plea by advocate Amit Sahni, seeking directions to the civic bodies to ensure strict compliance of the provisions of the Act to prevent loss of lives in the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks.

In his plea, the advocate Sahni said there were instances when civic bodies engage people for cleaning sewers and septic tanks in the capital, either directly or indirectly by outsourcing the work to private contractors.

He said it is done to take advantage of the loopholes in the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Rehabilitation Act, 2013, which does not impose a blanket ban on the hazardous activity but only says safety gear should be provided to manual scavengers. Sahni gave a video, which was posted by an MLA from Sultanpur Majra constituency in Delhi on April 3, to the court and the respondents. The video shows people cleaning sewers without safety gear.

The advocate said no medical officer was present at the site. The court directed the government counsel to take instructions and fixed the matter for April 26.