The Supreme Court has clarified that in cases of sewer deaths and manual scavenging, compensation of ₹30 lakh will be payable where compensation had not been determined or paid as on October 20, 2023, while cases where ₹10 lakh compensation had already been determined and paid to the legal heirs of the victims prior to the Court’s judgment dated October 20, 2023, in Dr. Balram Singh Vs. Union of India and Ors., 2023 SCC OnLine SC 1386, will not be reopened.
The Court made it clear that in cases where compensation had not been determined or paid as on October 20, 2023, the concerned State, Union Territory or municipal authority would be liable to pay Rs. 30 lakhs, even if the death had occurred prior to the said date.
A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B. Varale has clarified this while disposing of an application filed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), which had highlighted divergent views taken by different High Courts on the quantum of compensation payable in sewer death cases after the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment.
The Court noted that the earlier direction fixing compensation at Rs. 30 lakhs was intended to bring uniformity and ensure effective enforcement of its directions, and reopening settled cases would defeat the purpose of finality.
In the same proceedings, the Court also directed that connected writ petitions seeking compensation in terms of its judgment dated October 20, 2023, be listed together to avoid conflicting orders.
Taking note of continued vacancies in the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis, the Court expressed concern over the lack of progress in appointments despite earlier assurances by the Union of India. The Bench granted 2 days to file an affidavit indicating a clear timeline for appointments, warning that the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, would be required to appear in person if the affidavit was not filed.
Further, the court allowed impleadment of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Law and Justice from the array of parties, noting no objection to these applications.
Appearances
Mr. Manish Tiwari , AOR Dr. Aditya Sondhi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Pawan Reley, AOR Mr. Rijuk Sarkar, Adv. Mr. Akshay Lodhi, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Kumar, Adv. Ms. Simran Singh, Adv. Mr. Tanish Rawat, Adv. Ms. Aradhya Agarwal, Adv. Petitioner-in-person K. Parameshwar, Sr. Adv. (A.C.) Raji Gururaj, Adv. Veda Singh, Adv. Sai Kaushal, Adv. Prasad Hegde, Adv Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Astha Singh, Adv. Mr. Chitrangda Rashtravara, Adv. Mr. Sudarshan Lamba, AOR Ms. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Mr. Gurmeet Singh Makker, AOR Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Ms. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Rohan Gupta, Adv. Mr. Madhav Sinhal, Adv. Ms. Eliza Barr, Adv. Ms. Disha Singh, AOR Mr. Azmat Hayat Amanullah, AOR Ms. Rebecca Mishra, Adv. Mr. Abhay Anil Anturkar, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Tank, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Mehrotra, Adv. Ms. Surbhi Kapoor, AOR Mr. Bhagwant Deshpande, Adv. Ms. Subhi Pastor, Adv. Mr. Lokesh Sinhal, Sr. A.A.G. Mr. Akshay Amritanshu, AOR Mr. Abhay Nair, Adv. Mr. Sarthak Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Mayur Goyal, Adv. Mr. Aaditya Aniruddha Pande, AOR Mr. Siddharth Dharmadhikari, Adv. Mr. Shrirang B. Varma, Adv. Mr. Bharat Bagla, Adv. Mr. Sourav Singh, Adv. Mr. Aditya Krishna, Adv. Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv. Ms. Chitransha Singh Sikarwar, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Sr. Adv., Advocate General Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, AOR Mr. T.k. Nayak, Adv. Mr. Sravan Kumar Karanam, AOR Mr. P. Venkatraju, Adv. Mr. Kumar Abhishek, Adv. Ms. G. Sushmita, Adv. Ms. Shraddha Chirania, Adv. Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR Mrs. Aiswarya Bhati, A.S.G. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Ms. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv. Mr. Ishaan Sharma, Adv. Ms. Shreya Jain, Adv. Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Mr. Nimesh Bhatt, Adv. Mr. Nimesh Bahtt, Adv. Mr. Harish Pandey, Adv. Mr. Vatsal Joshi, Adv. Mr. Shashwat Parihar, Adv. Mr. Vinayak Sharma, Adv. Mr. Varun Chugh, Adv. Mr. Piyush Beriwal, Adv. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Ms. Mrinal Elker Mazumdar, Adv. Ms. Indira Bhakar, Adv. Mr. Mukesh K Verma, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Santosh Ramdurg, Adv. Mr. Shreekant Neelappa Terdal, AOR Mr. Amrish Kumar, AOR Mrs. Archana Pathak Dave, A.S.G. Aishwarya Bhati, A.S.G. Kamal Digpaul, Adv. Ms. Ruchi Kohli, Adv. Harshita Chobey, Adv. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv. Seema Bengani, Adv. Aman Shukla, Adv. Purnendu Bajpai, Adv. Madhav Sinhal, Adv. B.l.n. Shivani, Adv. Ameyvikrama Thanvi, Adv. Dr. N. Visakamurthy, AOR Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. Praveen Swarup, Adv. Mr. Rohit Swarup, Adv. Mr. Devesh Maurya, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Rohilla, Adv. Mr. R.d. Maurya, Adv. Mr. Loveli Tyagi, Adv. Mr. K.p. Singh, Adv. 3 Mr. Ashish Wad, Adv. Mr. Manoj Wad, Adv. Ms. Swati Arya, Adv. Mr. Chirag Sharma, Adv. Mr. Deepanshu Verma, Adv. M/s J S Wad And Co, AOR Ms. Nandini Sen Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv. Mr. Varij Nayan Mishra, Adv. Ms. Richa Kapoor, AOR Mr. Kunal Anand, Adv. Ms. Aditi Rathore, Adv. Ms. Jayna Kothari, Sr. Adv. Dr. Anindita Pujari, Sr. Adv. Ms. Aparna Mehrotra, Adv. Mr. Shaileshwar Yadav, Adv. Mr. Piyush Dwivedi, AOR Ms. Diksha Verma, Adv. Mr. Deepak Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Braj Kishore Mishra, Adv. Mr. Mrityunjay Pathak, Adv. Mr. Jatinder Bir Singh, Adv. Dr. Aditya Sondhi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Pawan Reley, AOR Mr. Rijuk Sarkar, Adv. Mr. Akshay Lodhi, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Kumar, Adv. Ms. Simran Singh, Adv. Mr. Tanish Rawat, Adv. Ms. Aradhya Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Vanshaja Shukla, AOR Ms. Ankeeta Appanna, Adv. Ms. Madhura Chitnis, Adv. Ms. Sugandha Anand , AOR Mr. Sanjay Jain, AOR Ms. Abiha Zaidi, AOR Mr. Hamza Lakdawala, Adv. Ms. Suriti Chowdhary, Adv. Mr. Pritam Raman Giriya, Adv. Ms. Tanya Sharma, Adv. Ms. Arushi, Adv. Mr. Ashish Bainsla, Adv. Attorney General For India, AOR Ms. Rashmi Nandakumar, AOR Ms. Yashmita Pandey, Adv. M/S. Nuli & Nuli, AOR Mr. Anand Sanjay M Nuli, Sr. Adv. Ms. Akhila Wali, Adv. Mr. Nanda Kumar K B, Adv. Mr. Abhishekh Singh, Adv.
