Point of Law: Section 5 of Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, specifically prohibits employment and engagement of manual scavengers.

JUDGMENT :

Satyen Vaidya, J.

By way of instant petition, petitioner has prayed for following substantive reliefs:

“(i) That kindly issue the writ, directions, or orders for the enforcement of fundamental rights of petitioner guaranteed under Articles 14, 17 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

(ii) That kindly issue the writ, directions, or orders to take the stringent action against the erring officers of respondents State particularly against the respondent No 8 in accordance with laws this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper.

(iii) That all the respondents may kindly be made answerable to the violation of fundamental rights of the petitioner and they may be condemned as this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper.

(iv) That the petitioner may adequately be compensated to the tune of Rs. 50 Lakh for breach of his fundamental rights initially to be paid by respondent No 1 to 3 and subsequently recoverable from the respondent No. 8 as this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper.”

2. The case of the petitioner in nutshell is that he was working as part time Sweeper in Government Polytechnic, Banikhet, District Chamba, H.P. His appointment was under the scheme of ‘Student Welfare Fund’. Respondent No.8 conducted the examination for its students from 5.12.2017 to 5.1.2018. The examination centre was in the fourth floor of newly constructed building of said respondent. No toilet facility was available at fourth floor as the toilets were under construction. Petitioner was directed by respondent No.8 to arrange a ‘drum’ (container) to be kept outside examination centre for enabling the students to urinate in the improvised container. He was further directed to empty the drum on the first floor by carrying the same down from fourth floor. Petitioner showed his inability to undertake the assigned job, but he was forced to do the same. Thus, the petitioner was made to perform the inhuman act continuously right from 05.12.2017 to 05.01.2018. Petitioner further alleged that while performing his duty, as above, he had a fall on the staircase and had suffered injuries. The incident was published in vernacular newspaper ‘Punjab Kesari’ (Chamba Edition) on 30.12.2017. Petitioner represented to Hon’ble the Chief Minister and Hon’ble the Chief Justice seeking justice, but his grievance was not redressed, forcing him to file the instant petition.

3. In response submitted on behalf of respondents No. 3, 4 and 7, it has been submitted that the building of Government Polytechnic, Banikhet was inaugurated in July, 2017 and classes were shifted to the new campus w.e.f. August, 2017. The factum of petitioner working as part time Sweeper in Government Polytechnic, Banikhet during the year 2017 is not denied. Rather, it is submitted that he was engaged on part time basis since 2011 and his services were taken on contract w.e.f. 06.02.2019. An inquiry was conducted at institutional level and another inquiry was conducted by the Tehsildar, Dalhousie. Respondents 5 and 6 have also taken a stand that inquiry was conducted by the Tehsildar and in their words the allegations of petitioner were found “baseless, meritless, frivolous and far away from reality”.

4. Respondent No.8 filed separate reply. The factum of engagement of petitioner as part time Sweeper is not denied. It is also mentioned that petitioner belongs to Scheduled Caste category. As per respondent No.8, the examination hall of the institution was situated on the third floor at the time when the examinations were held during December 2017. The toilets on the third floor were not completely ready and, therefore, the arrangement was made to create temporary urinal outside the examination hall. As per the stand of respondent No.8, the petitioner was assigned the duty as Sweeper during the entire tenure of examination in lieu of payment of extra remuneration at the rate of Rs.55/- per shift. Petitioner had voluntarily agreed to perform the duty. The temporary urinal outside the examination hall was planned in assoc