JOIN USSC to consider plea for migrant workers' wages
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up a plea for payment of wages by the government to all migrant workers, whether formal, informal or self-employed, amidst the 21-day national lockdown on COVID-19 threat.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the plea before Justice L Nageswara Rao by telephone.
The petition, filed by social activists Harsh Mander and Anjali Bhardwaj, contended that the lockdown order issued by the Union government under the Disaster Management Act discriminated among the citizens.
The petitioners pointed out that the Act obliged the central and state governments to prepare a detailed plan and machinery for dealing with and mitigating the effects of disasters, including taking steps to help the victims whether directly or indirectly.
"Thus, it is the duty of both the state as well as the central governments to jointly and severally ensure payments of wages/ minimum wages to all the migrants, who are the indirect victims of the COVID-19 disaster," they said.
The petitioners asserted that the government's inaction in protecting the lives of these migrant workers, forced to move back to their villages during this "unprecedented humanitarian crisis", was violative of their right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Among others, they sought a direction to the government to immediately activate national and State Advisory committees of experts in the field of disaster management and public health to management plans for dealing with the COVID-19 epidemic under the Disaster Management Act, 2005