HYDERABAD: A division Bench of the High Court on Wednesday directed the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments to take steps for opening of bank accounts with State Bank of India for the migrant labour working in brick kilns and other units in the unorganised sector in both the states.
The Bench, comprising acting chief justice Dilip B Bhosale and justice P Naveen Rao, gave the direction on a taken-up PIL case remitted from the Supreme Court.
When the Supreme Court had been told about the pathetic conditions in which the migrant labourers in Odisha and the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh state, it took up the case and sent it to the Odisha and Hyderabad High Courts for adjudication.
On an earlier occasion, the division Bench, which felt that the workers were not getting the money which was promised to them by the brick kiln owners, ordered the two state governments to take steps for opening of bank accounts for the labour and to ensure that the owners paid wages to them through bank in order to have accountability.
AP advocate-general told the court that bank accounts for migrant labour would be opened in two weeks.
The standing counsel for SBI said there was no need of identity proof or other documents for opening small accounts meant for payment of wages to labour.
Reacting to these submissions, the Bench directed the SBI authorities to issue special circulars to all branch managers with regard to opening of bank accounts for migrant labour, and posted the matter after summer vacation for further hearing.