CJ receives complaint of manual scavenging right outside HC

Additional Advocate General informs court of having instructed Greater Chennai Corporation to stop the work forthwith

A complaint was made to Madras High Court Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari on Wednesday regarding labourers being made to clean sewage water right outside the High Court campus, despite the court having come down heavily against manual scavenging.

Advocate Srinath Sridevan, representing Safai Karamchari Andolan whose public interest litigation (PIL) petition for eradicating manual scavenging is pending before the court, rushed to the Chief Justice’s court hall and made a mention regarding the engagement of labourers.

He also produced photographs of the labourers being made to get into the sewage water, which had got stagnated during a storm water drain construction work. After perusing the photos, the Chief Justice asked Additional Advocate General (AAG) J. Ravindran to pitch in and do the needful.

The AAG told the court that he had called the officers of Greater Chennai Corporation and instructed them to stop the work forthwith and barricade the area. Thanking the AAG for his quick response, Mr. Sridevan urged the court to take up the PIL petition for hearing on Thursday.

Since the AAG expressed personal inconvenience in appearing on Thursday, the Chief Justice directed the Registry to list the case on Monday for taking stock of the actions taken so far by the local bodies to stop the abhorrent practice of manual scavenging.