Karnataka High Court directs State to frame scheme for education, compassionate appointment for kin of deceased manual scavengers

The Karnataka High Court on Monday directed the State government to come up with a scheme for providing education, scholarship and compassionate appointments to the family members of the deceased manual scavengers. [All India Central Council Trade Unions vs Union of India] .The order was passed by a a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and SS Magadum on a plea by All India Central Council Trade Unions to put an end to manual scavenging in the State, in violation of The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (2013 Act) and related rules.."State government is granted 30 days time to formulate a scheme in terms of the Act of 2013 in the matter of grant of scholarship and in the matter of compassionate appointment," the Court directed..During the hearing, the Court noted two incidents relating to death of manual scavengers. On June 4, 2021, in Ramanagara district, three sanitation workers had died while engaged in manual scavenging and family of those deceased had not been provided with employment.Similarly, with respect to the Kalburagi incident, in which two manual scavengers had died while entering a manhole, it was stated that legal heirs of two workers were granted casual appointment. .The court also went through section 13 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (2013 Act), while directing the state to ensure that employment is provided to the family members of the deceased within a month. "Section 13 of the Act of 2013 is very clear. It provides that at least one adult member of the family shall be given training for some alternative profession or a job or a vocation. The same has not been done in the present case. Let the same be given positively within 30 days," the Court said. .During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the petitioner advocate Shilpa Prasad informed the Court that with regard to scholarship for the children of the deceased manual scavengers, only ₹1000 was disbursed. "This Court really fails to understand ₹1000 for a child studying really falls within the meaning of the term scholarship," the Bench said. It opined that if ₹1000 is a lumpsum amount, then it means that the order passed by the State government was nothing but a "show". .Prasad also pointed out that in some cases ₹10 000 has been given as education scholarship. "Again whether Rs 10,000 is per year or month is not clear. Scholarship under 2013 Act certainly means that the State government is under an obligation to pay scholarship to the children of the deceased. As laid down by the Central government and the State government in respect of other schemes, the disparity of paying scholarship has to come to an end. A uniform policy has to be made in respect of grant of scholarship in all such cases," the Court said. .Further, Prasad also drew the attention of the Court to the compliance report which was filed by the State government to point out that the survey for rehabilitation of manual scavengers under the 2013 Act has not been done.In this regard, the Court directed the State State government to conclude the survey within 2 months.Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari, appearing for an intervenor, informed the Court that in the previous order, the State Government was directed to place on record the equipment available with municipal bodies for manual scavengers. Noting that the same has not been done, the Court granted a time of 30 days for the State to comply with the said direction..The matter will be next heard on November 26.