Priyanka Singh
Published on: September 12, 2022 at 18:29 IST
The Delhi High Court took Suo Motu Cognizance of a case reported by the news regarding the deaths of two men who died inhaling toxic sewer fumes in the Mundka area of the city.
The bench consisting of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Jal Board and Chief Secretary of Delhi and also appointed Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao as the amicus curiae to assist the Bench.
As the PTI reports say, the deceased men were Rohit Chandilya, a sweeper at the Delhi Development Authority flats and the second man being Ashok Kumar, a security guard, where Chandilya entered the sewer first and fell unconscious after inhaling the toxic fumes inside.
The men, on being taken to the hospital, were declared dead rather than unconscious.
CJ Satish Chandra Sharma said, “I’ll provide the necessary documents to Sr Adv Rao as earlier, I have decided two matters in different states wherein as soon as a person dies due to manual scavenging his/her legal heir is entitled to a compensation of Rs. 10 Lakh and a job.”
Recently, the Central Government had informed the Delhi High Court of the lowering of cases regarding accidents related to manual scavenging due to various initiatives taken by them.
In response to a PIL filed in 2019 by Advocate Amit Sahni, who sought strict adherence to the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 to prevent deaths brought on by manual cleaning of septic tanks and sewers, the Central Government through its Department of Social Justice and Empowerment filed a brief affidavit.