Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Dr. Balram Singh vs Union Of India on 27 March, 2025
Bench: Sudhanshu Dhulia, Aravind Kumar
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ITEM NO.301 COURT NO.12 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 324/2020
DR. BALRAM SINGH Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)
IA No. 146249/2023 - APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION
IA No. 136950/2023 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION
IA No. 131385/2023 - INTERVENTION/IMPLEADMENT
IA No. 30602/2020 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL
DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES
Date : 27-03-2025 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHANSHU DHULIA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARAVIND KUMAR
Amicus Curiae Mr. K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv.
Assisted by :-
Mr. Ravigururaj, Adv.
Mr. Srinivas P., Adv.
For Petitioner(s) : Petitioner-in-person
For Respondent(s) : Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Ms. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv.
Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Subhash Chandran K. R., Adv.
Ms. Krishna L. R., Adv.
Mr. Abhimanyu Tewari, AOR
Ms. Eliza Bar, Adv.
Mr. Azmat Hayat Amanullah, AOR
Signature Not Verified
Ms. Rebecca Mishra, Adv.
Digitally signed by
Jayant Kumar Arora
Date: 2025.03.29
Ms. Anitha Shenoy, Sr. Adv.
13:41:00 IST
Reason:
Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR
Ms. Ayushma Awasthi, Adv.
Ms. P. Geetanjali, Adv.
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Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR
Ms. Shraddha Chirania, Adv.
Mrs. Aiswarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Ms. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR
Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv.
Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv.
Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv.
Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv.
Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv.
Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv.
Mr. Rajesh Singh Chauhan, Adv.
Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv.
Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR
Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G.
Ms. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv.
Ms. Swarupma Chaturvedi, Adv.
Mr. Aman Shukla, Adv.
Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv.
Mr. Purnendu Bajpai, Adv.
Ms. Sweksha, Adv.
Ms. B.L. N. Shivani, Adv.
Ameyvikrama Thanvi, Adv.
Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR
Mr. Anand Sanjay M Nuli, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Nanda Kumar K B, Adv.
Ms. Akhila Wali, Adv.
Mr. Abhishekh Singh, Adv.
Ms. Sunayna Agarwal, Adv.
M/S. Nuli & Nuli, AOR
Mr. Ashish Wad, Adv.
Mr. Manoj Wad, Adv.
Ms. Swati Arya, Adv.
Ms. Akriti Arya, Adv.
Mohammed Hadi, Adv.
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M/S. J S Wad And Co, AOR
Ms. Asha Gopalan Nair, AOR
Ms. Nivedita Nair, Adv.
Mr. Shashikant Pralhad Chaudhari, Adv.
Ms. Nandini Sen Mukherjee, AOR
Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR
Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv.
Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv.
Ms. Jayna Kothari, Sr. Adv.
Dr. Anindita Pujari, Sr. Adv.
Ms. Aparna Mehrotra, Adv.
Mr. Shaileshwar Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Dwivedi, AOR
Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR
Ms. Ankeeta Appanna, Adv.
Ms. Madhura Chitnis, Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Jain, AOR
Attorney General For India, AOR
Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR
Ms. Yashmita Pandey, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
DELHI Pursuant to our order dated 19.02.2025, Mr. Pankaj Kumar Atray, Director (Safety and Disaster Management), Delhi Jal Board is present in Court today. He shall file a detailed affidavit as to why and in what manner the death of a worker had occurred while doing manual scavenging in New Friends Colony, recently, which is admittedly under the jurisdiction of Delhi Jal Board. It will also be explained in the affidavit as to from which date, hazardous cleaning / scavenging has been stopped under his jurisdiction and what are the measures and the machines they are using for this 4 work.
The Government of NCT of Delhi shall also file a detailed affidavit in that regard.
BENGALURU Mr. Tushar Giri Nath, Chief Commissioner, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike [BBMP] is present in Court today. The affidavit filed by him has been read before this Court and has been rebutted by Mr. K. Parameshwar, learned Amicus Curiae, who submits that the affidavit does not state the facts correctly. The website of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis shows that 22 deaths have taken place from 2017 onwards in Bangalore Municipal area itself due to manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning. There is no recital as to which machines are being used and since when they are being used. There is no clear averment as to whether manual involvement in all hazardous cleaning has been stopped, or not. The affidavit seems to be very cleverly drafted in order to create a illusion before this Court.
At this stage, we say nothing further than this, but we expect that the concerned officer(s) of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) shall file a better affidavit giving all the correct facts before the next date of listing. HYDERABAD Mr. K. Ashok Reddy, Managing Director of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water & Sewerage Board (HMW & SB) is present in Court. The affidavit filed by him shows that the recent 03 deaths in Hyderabad City are attributed not to hazardous cleaning or sewer cleaning but these occurred during repair work of some old sewerage 5 pipes. This is not entirely correct, as this operation, though may be technically different from manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning, but involves the same amount of risk. Be that as it may, it is also clear that from the year 2021, there are no deaths reported in the website of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, except the above three mentioned which could have been avoided. Precious lives have been lost due to the negligence and lack of commitment to duty by the concerned officers. This is our prima facie opinion.
All the officers have assured this Court that they shall pay the entire compensation to the next of the kin of the deceased who died during manual scavenging and hazardous cleaning during the last three months, within a period of four weeks from today.
We make it clear that we have specified the period of ‘last three months’ only for the present purpose and the final date as to the compensation to be made to other persons and the applicable date are yet to be decided by this Court.
Personal presence of the officers, who are present in Court today, is dispensed with for the time being.
Mr. K. Parameshwar, learned Amicus Curiae shall apprise this Court as to from which date our Judgment dated 24.10.2023 as regarding compensation can be made applicable.
Re-list the matter on 24.04.2025 at 03.00 PM.
(JAYANT KUMAR ARORA) (RENU BALA GAMBHIR) ASST. REGISTRAR-CUM-PS ASSISTANT REGISTRAR