All India Council of Trade Unions vs Union of India. Writ Petition 8928/2020 and connected matters. Order dated 9 December 2020.
Judgment Link: https://karnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in/noticeBoard/wp-8928-2020-cw-09122020.pdf
Interim Directions Issued:
Therefore, this Court deems it proper to issue the following
interim directions:
i) The State Government shall place on record the
details about the number of First Information Reports
registered for the offences punishable under the
Manual Scavengers Act, the details of the cases in
which charge sheets were filed, the details of the
cases which are pending and the details of the
cases which resulted into conviction. The figures of
cases which resulted into acquittal shall be also
placed on record;
ii) The State Government shall place on record the
compliance of the decisions taken in the meeting
held on 23rd February 2018 under the Chairmanship
of the then Additional Chief Secretary;
iii) The State Government shall produce necessary
material to show that the District Level Survey
Committees as contemplated by sub-clause (c) of
Rule 2 of the Manual Scavengers Rules have been
duly constituted. The State Government shall also
call for the data from all the Districts for ascertaining
whether the District Level Survey Committees have
conducted surveys of manual scavengers and
whether the Committees have published the final list
of Manual Scavengers of the respective Districts;
iv) The State Government shall place on record the
necessary details as regards the constitution of the
State Level Survey Committees as well as the details
regarding the number of meetings of the State Level
Survey Committee has held and the gist of functions
so far discharged by the State level Committee;
v) The State Government shall place on record
comprehensive data about the survey of insanitary
latrines throughout the State and the details about
the conversion/demolition of insanitary latrines;
vi) The State Government shall also place on record
whether any notification has been issued in exercise
of power conferred by the second proviso of subsection (2) of Section 5 of the Manual Scavengers
Act;
vii) The State Government shall place on record the
details relating to final publication of the District-wise
final lists of Manual Scavengers and the publication
of State level final list of Manual Scavengers;
viii) The State Government shall call for reports from the
authorities/authorized officers specified for
implementing the provisions of the Manual
Scavengers Act under Section 18. The State
Government shall ensure that the directions are
issued to authorized officers/authorities to comply
with the requirements of Section 19;
ix) The State Government shall place on record the
details about number of meetings held at the
Districts, Sub-Divisional and the State level
Vigilance Committees;
x) The State Government shall issue directions to all
the Local Authorities to implement the provisions of
the Manual Scavengers Act and the Rules by
specifically referring to the obligations and duties
under various provisions. The compliance by the
Local Authorities shall be monitored regularly by the
State Level Monitoring Committee;
xi) The State Government shall direct all the Local
Authorities to comply with the obligations under subsections (2) and (3) of Section 4 and to immediately
ascertain the requirement of number of sanitary
community latrines within their respective
jurisdictions and thereafter, make construction of
such latrines. The data of such community sanitary
latrines constructed in the State shall be placed on
record;
xii) The State Government shall immediately initiate
awareness campaign on a large scale for elimination
of the practice of open defecation and ensure that all
Local Authorities comply with their obligation of
eliminating the practice of open defecation in their
jurisdiction. The State Government shall take help of NGOs and the Karnataka State Legal Services
Authority to conduct the campaigns in rural areas;
xiii) The State Government shall place on record the
steps taken for rehabilitation of manual scavengers
as provided in Section 13 by stating whether there
are any Schemes of Central and State Government
for rehabilitation of the manual scavengers as
contemplated by Section 13;
xiv) The Union of India shall place on record the copies
of the notifications, if any, issued in exercise of the
powers under explanation (b) to clause (g) of Section
2 of the Manual Scavengers Act;
xv) The State Government shall place on record all the
details regarding the compliance with the directions
contained in paragraph 23.3 of the decision of the
Apex Court in the case of Safai Karamchari
Andolan (Supra);
xvi) The Karnataka High Court Legal Services
Committee and all the District Legal Services
Authorities will be entitled to convene meetings of all
the stakeholders for assisting them for making
compliance with the directions issued by this Court
and for implementation of the Manual Scavengers
Act and the Rules framed thereunder; and
xvii) Compliance affidavits shall be filed by the State
Government and all concerned on or before 30th
January 2021.
Post the petitions on 2nd February, 2021.
Compiled by S. Basavaraj, Advocate, Daksha Legal.
Daksha Legal 