HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N Tukaramji, on Wednesday, issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration, GHMC Commissioner, Labour Commissioner, District Collector, Medchel Malkajgiri and the Managing Director, HMWS&SB and asked them to file detailed counters by January 4, 2022, on the news report published in The New Indian Express under the caption “Two Choke to death while cleaning septic Tank in Hyderabad”. The news report was about the death of two sanitation workers, who were cleaning a septic tank in an apartment in Kondapur.
Justice Ujjwal Bhuyan of the High Court had forwarded a note dated November 29, 2021, while enclosing a news report published in The New Indian Express, expressing deep anguish as the government is permitting manual scavenging in the state despite the fact that the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 completely prohibits manual scavenging.
The PIL was listed before the bench headed by Chief Justice. After pursuing the matter, the court issued notices to authorities concerned and asked them to file counters and adjourned the case to January 4, 2022.