The Delhi High Court has issued instructions to the Delhi Government, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and other civic authorities in the national capital to rigorously adhere to a recent Supreme Court decision that calls for the complete elimination of manual scavenging.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela has instructed the authorities to adhere to a recent judgment from the previous month in the case of Balram Singh v. Union of India and Others. In that judgment, the Supreme Court had directed that compensation in cases of sewer deaths should be raised to Rs. 30 lakhs.

The Supreme Court has ordered an increase in compensation for cases of permanent disablement resulting from sewer operations. The compensation for such cases should now be Rs. 20 lakhs. Additionally, for other types of disablement, the compensation should not be less than Rs. 10 lakhs as per the court's directive.

The bench has directed the Government of NCT of Delhi, the Delhi Jal Board, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and all other relevant authorities to fully adhere to the judgment handed down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Balram Singh (supra).

The court has resolved a collection of petitions that were seeking the rigorous implementation of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, along with the associated rules that have been formulated under this law.

The court stated, "Considering the judgment issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court as mentioned above, no additional orders need to be issued in the current writ petitions, and therefore, these petitions are concluded and resolved accordingly."

The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar, in their decision dated October 20, ordered the total elimination of the practice of manually cleaning sewers. The directive aims to guarantee that no individual is required to enter sewers manually for any reason.

Case: ASHOK AGARWAL v. UOI & ORS, W.P.(C) 841/1998.