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2005 Supreme(SC) 1906
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
S.N. Variava, H.K. Sema, JJ.
Safai Karamchari Andolan & Ors. - Petitioner
Versus
Union of India & Ors. - Respondents
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 583 of 2003
Decided On : 29-04-2005
For the Petitioners: Mr. S. Muralidhar, Adv. Mr. Somiran Sharma, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv. Mr. K.G. Gopalakrishnan, Adv.
For Respondent: Mr. B. Datta, ASG Mr. Hemant Sharma, Adv. Ms. Sandhya Goswami, Adv. Mr. B.K. Prasad, Adv. State of A.P. Mr. Manoj Saxena, Adv., Mr. Amit Meharia, Adv. Mr. Mohan Prasad Meharia, Adv. Mr. S.K. Mitra, Adv. Mr. Debojit Borkakati, Adv. State of Assam Ms. Krishna Sarma, Adv., Mr. V.K. Sidharthan, Adv. Mr. Saroj Kumar Jha, Adv. Mr. Riku Sarma, Adv. for M/s. Corporate Law Group State of Bihar Mrs. Sumita R. Singh, Adv., Mr. B.B. Singh, Adv. State of West Bengal Mr. Avijit Bhattacharjee, Adv., Mr. Dibakar Boarah, Adv. State of J & K., Mr. Anis Suhrawardy, Adv. State of Nagaland, Mr. Upamanyu Hazarika, Adv., Mr. Satya Mitra, Adv. Ms. Sumita Hazarika, Adv. State of Haryana Mr. Manjit Singh, Adv., Mrs. Vivekta Singh, Adv. Mr. Harikesh Singh, Adv. State of H.P. Mr. J.S. Attri, Addl. Adv. General., State of Manipur Kh. Nobin Singh, Adv., State of Tripura Mr. Gopal Singh, Adv., Mr. Rituraj, Adv. State of Meghalaya Mr. Ranjan Mukherjee, Adv., State of Sikkim Mr. A. Mariarputham, Adv., Ms. Aruna Mathur, Adv. for M/s. Arputham Aruna & Co. State of Mizoram Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Adv., Mrs. Sadhna Sandhu, Adv. State of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr. Anil Srivastava, Adv., Mr. Saurabh Shrivastava, Adv. State of Goa Ms. A. Subhashini, Adv., State of Chhattisgarh Ms. Suparna Srivastava, Adv., Ms. Deepti Singh, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, Adv. State of Uttaranchal Ms. Rachna Srivastava, Addl. Adv. General., Mr. R.K. Jain, Adv. State of Jharkhand Mr. Gopal Prasad, Adv., State of Gujarat Ms. Hemantika Wahi, Adv., State of Kerala Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R., Adv., State of M.P. Mr. Satish K. Agnihotri, Adv., Mr. Rohit K. Singh, Adv. Mr. Amit Mishra, Adv. State of Tamil Nadu Mr. K. Ramamoorthy, Sr. Adv., Mr. R. Ayyam Perumal, Adv. Mrs. N. Shoba, Adv. Mr. Sriram J. Thalapathy, Adv. Mr. N.K. Arulmuruganandham, Adv. Mr. S. Vallinayagam, Adv. State of Maharashtra Mr. S.S. Shinde, Adv., Mr. Mukesh K. Giri, Adv. Mr. Ravindra Keshavrao Adsure, Adv. State of Karnataka Mr. Sanjay R. Hegde, Adv., State of Orissa Mr. Shibashish Misra, Adv., State of Punjab Mr. R.K. Rathore, AAG, Punjab., Mr. S. Krishnaraj, Adv. Mr. Arun Kumar Sinha, Adv. Mr. J.K. Bhatia, Adv. State of Rajasthan Mr. Ansar Ahmed Chaudhary, Adv., Mr. Manish Kumar, Adv. State of U.P. Ms. Shobha Dikshit, Sr. Adv., Mr. Pradeep Misra, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Singh, Adv. State of Delhi Ms. Varuna Bhandari Gugnani, Adv., Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Adv. Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Adv. U.T of Andaman & Nicobar, Mr. S. Wasim A. Qadri, Adv., Mr. Ajay Sharma, Adv., Mr. D.S. Mahra, Adv., Ms. Varuna Bhandari Gugnani, Adv. Dadar & Nagar Havelli Daman & Diu., Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Adv. U.T. of Chandigarh Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Adv., Ms. Indu Malhotra, Adv. Mr. Saqib, Adv. For State of Mr. Manish Kumar, Adv., Mr. Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary, Adv., Mr. T.V. Ratnam, Adv. Mr. K. Subba Rao, Adv.
Government authorities must personally verify and file detailed affidavits regarding the existence of manual scavenging, and outline schemes for its elimination and rehabilitation, with a focus on fund allocation and utilization.
Headnote:
Manual Scavenging - Government Responsibility - The court directed the Union of India and each State to personally check and file affidavits regarding the existence of manual scavenging in their departments or corporations, and to outline schemes for eliminating it and rehabilitating the persons concerned.
Fact of the Case:
The court directed the Union of India and each State to file affidavits regarding the existence of manual scavenging in their departments or corporations, and to outline schemes for eliminating it and rehabilitating the persons concerned.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the responsible authorities must personally check and file affidavits regarding the existence of manual scavenging, and outline schemes for its elimination and rehabilitation of the persons involved.
Issues: Government responsibility to address manual scavenging, allocation and utilization of funds, rehabilitation of affected individuals.
Ratio Decidendi: The court emphasized the need for personal verification and detailed affidavits from responsible authorities, as well as the allocation and utilization of funds for rehabilitation.
Final Decision: The Union of India and each State were directed to file detailed affidavits within six months regarding the existence of manual scavenging and the schemes for its elimination and rehabilitation, with a clarification that efforts to eliminate the practice should continue in the meantime.
ORDER :
S.N. Variava, J.
The Union of India and each State shall ask persons at the higher level in each of its Department and in its Corporation to personally check and then file affidavits in this Court as to whether or not, in their Department or Corporation any Manual Scavenging is still being resorted to. If Manual Scavenging is still being resorted to, then that Department or Corporation to indicate with details what Scheme it has for eliminating it and for rehabilitating the persons concerned and within what time frame. It is clarified that the person who files the affidavit must be a person who is responsible for taking a decision in the matter. The affidavit to be filed on personal information as we propose to hold the person responsible if it is found that the affidavit does not contain the truth.
2. The Union of India to also state what funds it has so far allocated and under which particular Schemes and what the utilisation of these funds has been, Union of India must state how many people have been rehabilitated each year since 1993.
3. Such affidavits to be filed within six months from today. We clarify that this does not mean that in the meantime the Union of India and the States do not continue with their efforts to eliminate this degrading practice.
4. List on 14th November, 2005.
