The Madras High Court directed the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the family members of a manual scavenger who died while clearing an underground sewer without any protective gear.

In the epilogue, the Bench emphasised that when the inhabitants of the city push everything inside the drains and sewers indiscriminately, it is nothing short of a homicide by the insensitive society.

The Single-Judge Bench of Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy said, “Therefore, the fourth respondent is bound to pay the compensation. In this case, when the employee died of manual scavenging, the authorities ought not to have left the matter for the father of the victim to approach the labour commissioner for compensation. Even when a petition is filed at least at that stage, immediately the authorities should have agreed to pay the compensation.”

Advocate A.Prabhakara Reddy represented the Petitioners while Additional Government Pleader K. Surendran represented the Respondents.

The High Court was considering a Writ Petition challenging the impugned order dismissing the application for condonation of delay in filing the restoration application.

The factual background of the case was that one Sridhar, aged about 22 years, was employed under the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board, for clearing the block/choking of the underground sewer without any protective gear as a manual scavenger. Since he had not come out for a long time, information was given to the Police and the Fire Service, who came and found that he had died and took the body out.

His father filed the Workman compensation claim. However, he was not present for the hearing in the year 2007 when the matter was taken up five years after the filing of the case. Therefore, the matter was dismissed for default. In the year 2008, an application was filed for restoration of the case and it was restored. The matter was repeatedly dismissed for default and therefore, the present petition was filed with the petition for condonation of delay in filing the restoration application.

It was the petitioner’s case that the present matter was a case of manual scavenging and the society is guilty of having let the deceased perform manual scavenging. It was also submitted that when the matter was filed in the year 2002, the same was kept pending till the year 2007. As per the petitioner, when the parties hail from rural areas and suddenly after five years the matter was taken up and dismissed for default, a lenient view should have been taken in the matters of restoration of the petition.

Highlighting the fact that one of our fellow human beings died of manual scavenging which violates all tenants of human rights, the Bench clarified that at the relevant time, the action of the manual scavenging of the sewer stood prohibited by The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. Reference was also placed upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Safai Karamchari Andolon and Others -Vs- Union of India (2014) whereby a grant of a sum of Rs 10 Lakhs has been mandated to the family of the person who dies in sewer cleaning.

The Bench further held that even if the petitioner does not appear, proactive steps should have been taken to summon the petitioner and compensation ought to have been paid. “It was extremely unfair on the part of all the respondents. Needless to mention that if the second respondent contractor has not performed his part of the obligation in providing protective gear etc., it will always be open to the fourth respondent to initiate proceedings against its own contractor for recovery of the entire or portion of the damages which is awarded by this Court”, it added.

The Bench also took note of the fact that the two sisters and two minor children being the children of the other deceased sister were alone the dependants entitled to receive the compensation. Moreover, all of them were unmarried and were living in the same family as dependants of the said person as on the date of the death.

Thus, allowing the Petition, the Bench granted compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the dependants of the deceased.

In the epilogue, the Bench quoted the words of Mahatma Gandhi. “It is easy to blame the authorities…When we, the inhabitants of the city, push everything inside the drains and sewers indiscriminately, it is nothing short of a homicide by the insensitive society. How many more lives do we want to sacrifice before learning that we must treat and maintain our sewers and drains as pristine as our arteries carrying blood to our brains?”, it concluded.

Cause Title: C.Kannaiyan (Deceased) & Ors. v. Deputy Commissioner of Labour-1 & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:MHC:4306)

Appearance:

Petitioners: Advocate A.Prabhakara Reddy

Respondents: Additional Government Pleader K.Surendran, Advocates G.T.Subramanian & Jeery V.V.Sundar

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