When law is ignored at court’s gate

The manual sewer cleaning incident outside the Supreme Court is another reminder of how policies look great on paper but often falter in practice

It is rare for the Supreme Court of India to confront, quite literally at its own gates, the very injustice it has spent decades trying to erase. Yet, this is what happened recently when an intervention application filed in the case of Dr Balram Singh vs Union of India revealed that workers were being employed to clean sewer lines manually outside Gate F of the court itself.

On September 18, 2025, in an order regarding the same, the Supreme Court imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Delhi’s Public Works Department (PWD) for engaging workers in manual sewer cleaning and also warned that an FIR will be registered against concerned officials if violations continue. The cost has to be deposited to the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK).

The irony was impossible to miss, a practice banned by law since 1993, reinforced by the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act [MS Act] 2013 and repeatedly condemned by the court, was unfolding in full public view on the doorstep of the highest judicial body.

The Balram Singh litigation is part of a series of petitions that have tried to bridge the yawning gap between India’s legal framework and its lived reality for sanitation workers. The court has consistently held that forcing a person to enter a sewer without protective equipment is not just illegal, but a violation of the fundamental right to dignity and life under Article 21.

Despite stern pronouncements and statutory prohibitions, the practice continues. According to government data, 377 people have died of manual scavenging between 2019 and 2023. The persistence of manual scavenging is not due to a lack of law but a lack of enforcement.

Municipal bodies and departments continue to employ or contract manual cleaners without consequence. Orders from Delhi often fail to filter down to state and local levels.

Sanitation involves multiple agencies like the PWD, local bodies, contractors, each quick to shift blame. This diffusion of accountability ensures no single officer feels the heat.

Deaths in sewers are routinely recorded as accidents rather than crimes, and prosecutions under the MS Act, 2013, are rare. Without criminal liability for officials, compliance remains optional.

The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK), though conceived as a watchdog, has often struggled with limited powers and resources. Yet, it plays a vital role in documenting deaths, monitoring rehabilitation schemes, and providing a national platform for sanitation workers’ grievances. The Supreme Court’s decision to route penalties and relief through the NCSK underscores its importance.

NCSK was originally constituted as a statutory body in 1994 under the NCSK Act. However, after the Act ceased to have effect from 2004, the tenure of NCSK was extended as a non-statutory body from time to time. It is currently under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, extended up to 2028.

Strengthening NCSK by granting it statutory permanence, investigative authority, and budgetary support could make it the pivot of accountability.

A question of dignity,not just safety

Too often, the debate is framed in terms of occupational hazard. But the court has reminded us that manual scavenging is not merely dangerous work, it is degrading work, rooted in caste hierarchies that strip individuals of dignity.

Manual scavengers not only face health issues, making them susceptible to diseases like cholera, hepatitis, tetanus etc., besides being at serious risk of asphyxiation in septic tanks, but also social stigma and are treated as untouchables.

The social stigma often causes them shame, low self-esteem and stress due to which many of them resort to alcohol and drug abuse. Their daily wage is also often below minimum pay and women workers face further exploitation through sexual harassment and gender pay gap.

Ending it, therefore, is not only about mechanisation and safety gear but also about ensuring alternative livelihoods, social mobility, and rehabilitation in real sense.

The central sector NAMASTE (National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem) Scheme is an excellent positive step by the government aiming at formalisation of the sanitation sector and providing sustainable livelihood options to workers including through Self Help Groups (SHGs).

The core goal of the scheme is to replace manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks with mechanised systems, preventing direct contact with hazardous waste. The workers are also provided with safety gears and health insurance cover under Ayushman Bharat. The scheme promotes skill development and safety training for sanitation workers.

Recently, the Ministry of Social Justice has also launched the nationwide ‘Waste Picker Enumeration App’ for profiling waste pickers under the NAMASTE scheme.

Yet, the discovery of sewer cleaning right outside the Supreme Court is a reminder that policies on paper can often falter in practice. If illegality can flourish unchecked at the threshold of the court, one can imagine the scale of violations across small towns and villages, away from the gaze of cameras or petitioners.

The court has done its part by reaffirming constitutional principles and threatening consequences. But judges cannot run municipalities. The real test lies in whether the executive machinery will enforce laws and schemes, allocate resources for mechanisation, and hold errant officials criminally liable. India cannot claim to be a modern democracy while consigning some of its citizens to die in its gutters.

(The writers are advocates practising in the Supreme Court of India)