State liable to pay compensation in manual scavenging deaths even if labourers were employed by private individuals: Bombay High Court

The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has held the State liable to pay ₹30 lakh as compensation to the families of two labourers who died while cleaning a septic tank at a private residence in Nanded district in 2021.

A division bench of Justices Nitin Suryawanshi and Vaishali Patil-Jadhav ruled that the State’s liability for compensation in manual scavenging deaths is not contingent on whether the deceased were employed by government bodies or private individuals. The Court cited Supreme Court orders in Safai Karamchari Andolan and Balram Singh to affirm that the State’s financial liability applies irrespective of the place of work or the nature of the employer.

The Court was hearing a petition filed by the families of the deceased labourers. The post-mortem reports indicated that the cause of death was asphyxia and drowning. The families had initially received a partial payment from the private home owner, who had agreed to pay ₹2 lakh each and an additional ₹50,000 for funeral expenses.

In October 2023, the families approached the District Collector seeking ₹10 lakh each, referencing the Supreme Court’s directive in Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India. The State, citing a 2019 government resolution, had argued that the liability rested with the individual house-owner when the hiring was private. The High Court rejected this argument.

The Court clarified that while the State is liable to pay the compensation, it retains the right to recover the amount from the private home owner. The Bench observed that the continued occurrence of manual scavenging deaths is a matter of record and reflects a collective failure to eliminate the practice. The ruling directed the State of Maharashtra to pay enhanced compensation of ₹30 lakh to the kin of each of the two labourers.

The Court drew on the principles articulated by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar regarding the reclamation of human personality to conclude the State’s obligation in this matter. Advocates Abha Singh and Avinash M Reddy represented the families of the deceased labourers.