Manual scavenging deaths: SC orders higher compensation if not paid before 2023

The Supreme Court said that cases in which ₹10 lakh compensation was paid before its 2023 judgment will not be reopened

States and Union territories will be liable to pay a higher ₹30 lakh compensation for deaths due to manual scavenging if no ex gratia was paid before the Supreme Court’s October 2023 judgment on such cases, the court has said.

The clarification came as high courts had begun to apply the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment differently. (ANI)

On January 20, the court said that cases in which ₹10 lakh compensation was paid before the 2023 judgment will not be reopened. The clarification came as high courts had begun to apply the 2023 order differently, with no uniform standards to deal with claims for higher compensation for deaths where compensation was paid, and cases settled.

The January 20 order came on a National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) application, citing differing high court decisions. Some high courts reopened settled cases and enhanced compensation from ₹10 lakh to ₹30 lakh. Others refused to do so.

Advocate Rashmi Nandkumar, who represented NALSA, said only two possibilities emerged due to the divergence of views. Nandkumar said that the dependents of a manual scavenger or a person engaged in hazardous cleaning whose death occurred before October 20, 2023, and who received ₹10 lakh compensation ,shall be entitled to an additional ₹20 lakh. The second possibility was that they would not be entitled to any additional compensation.

Senior advocate K Parmeshwar, assisting the Supreme Court as amicus curiae, pointed out that the ₹10 lakh compensation was paid as per an earlier judgment in March 2014. He added that if this judgment was complied with, the cases should not be allowed to reopen. Parmeshwar said that even if deaths occurred before the 2023 judgment, they should be considered under the new compensation regime if they did not get anything to date.

In the 2023 landmark judicial intervention, the court directed that manual scavenging or sewer deaths be prevented at all costs. “Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality….Each of us owes to this large segment of the population, who have remained unseen, unheard, and muted, in bondage systematically trapped in inhuman conditions.”

The 2023 order directed the Union government and the states to carry out a survey for the identification of manual scavengers across the country. In November 2025, the Union government filed an affidavit saying that out of 775 districts in the country, where the survey was carried out, no manual scavengers were found in 465. It added that 643 districts have uploaded certificates reporting “nil” manual scavengers.