COVID-19 lockdown: SC notice to Centre on payment of wages to migrant workers

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a plea by activists Harsh Mander and Anjali Bhardwaj for payment of wages by the government to all migrant workers, whether formal, informal or self-employed, amidst the 21-day nation-wide lockdown on COVID-19 threat.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta said the court was particularly concerned about the plight of migrant workers in the unorganised sector in this time of crisis.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for his part, raised objection to the petition argued by advocate Prashant Bhushan.

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"These 'PIL shops' must close down. Genuine persons are helping people on the ground. Those sitting in AC rooms and filing PILs does not help," he argued.

The bench, however, decided to seek a response from the government and put the matter for consideration on April 7.

The petition, filed by activists Mander and Bhardwaj, contended that the lockdown order issued by the Union government under the Disaster Management Act discriminated the citizens.

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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 for management plans for dealing with the Covid-19 epidemic under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.