The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered an immediate end to manual scavenging in major metropolitan cities, directing municipal commissioners and chief executive officers of six major cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, to comply with the directive and submit a compliance report within two weeks.
The order was issued as part of the court’s oversight of its October 2023 judgment, which mandated all states and Union Territories to take comprehensive steps to eradicate the inhumane practice. Expressing disappointment over continued violations, the court cited a recent incident in Delhi where two men in their late 20s lost their lives while cleaning a sewer.
“A well-considered order was passed by us, yet people are still dying… The time has come to issue stricter directions,” observed a bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar.
Focusing on Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, the bench ruled, “Manual sewage cleaning and manual scavenging must be stopped immediately in all top metropolitan cities.”
The court also instructed municipal commissioners or chief executive officers of these cities to submit affidavits by February 13, detailing “how and when manual scavenging/sewer cleaning has been stopped.” The matter will be reviewed on February 19.
Senior advocate K Parmeshwar, acting as amicus curiae, noted that while affidavits would likely claim full compliance, he remained skeptical. His concerns were based on recent data presented by the Centre, which showed that out of 775 districts nationwide, only 465 had been declared “manual scavenging-free,” with data from 310 districts still pending.
The bench warned, “If false affidavits are filed, it will amount to contempt of court.” Parmeshwar further pointed out that states had yet to comply with the October 2023 directive to conduct a comprehensive survey, with some still in the process of forming survey committees.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Union government, emphasized that sanitation falls under state jurisdiction. She stated that the Centre had coordinated meetings with chief secretaries and district magistrates to ensure compliance but noted that while some states had conducted surveys, others had yet to respond.
The Supreme Court’s October 20, 2023, judgment had highlighted the deplorable conditions faced by manual scavengers, declaring, “Ours is a battle not for wealth or power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human dignity.” It directed the Centre and states to provide ₹30 lakh in compensation to the families of individuals who died while cleaning sewers and ordered the complete eradication of manual scavenging nationwide.
The ruling also stressed the need to replace manual cleaning with mechanized methods and prohibit individuals from being employed for such hazardous work. Government data presented in the Lok Sabha in July 2022 revealed that at least 347 people had died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks between 2018 and 2022, with Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi accounting for 40% of these fatalities.
“Following our order, no person should have been forced to enter a sewer for cleaning. Yet, two people have recently died in Delhi,” the bench remarked.
The court’s directive stemmed from a public interest litigation filed by Balram Singh, who sought a nationwide survey of manual scavengers, compensation for victims’ families, and rehabilitation measures for those engaged in the profession.
In a previous hearing in December, the court underscored the gravity of the issue, stating, “This is a matter of human dignity, and it is close to our hearts. We are willing to go to any extent to enforce our ruling.”
