BENGALURU: Apart from coming out with a fair and transparent policy to ensure that registered migrant workers get a chance to go back, the State Government must also state the efforts made to make transport facilities available to those from North Eastern States and Union territories, the Karnataka High Court said on Thursday.
Hearing a public interest litigation involving Covid-19 issues, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice B V Nagarathna said the State had filed a statement saying that SMSes about availability of trains and asking the workers to reach mustering centres were sent to all but not many showed interest to travel now.
But there was no guarantee that the SMS would have reached the migrant workers. Therefore it may not be proper to conclude that many were not interested in going back if they had not reached the mustering centres, the bench said.
Although the government’s written statement said that migrant workers were chosen based on the date of registration, no such mention was made in the minutes of the Chief Secretary’s meeting or in a circular issued on June 3.
In its written submission, the government said that mustering centres were set up in Bengaluru and that SMSes were sent to about 50,000 registered workers asking them to reach the centres. When 1,500 people reached a centre, they were sent by train. Facilities were provided to others waiting for trains at other centres, the government said. The bench asked the State to explain how migrants workers in districts with no train facility will be provided transport to return to their home states.
Clarify NGT panel’s jurisdiction: HC
The High Court on Thursday directed the KSPCB to clarify whether the committee constituted by the NGT has the jurisdiction to inspect residential and industrial units and take steps to stop illegal discharge of effluents into water bodies.
A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty issued the direction during the hearing of a PIL filed by advocate Geetha Misra on the protection of Bellandur and Varthur lakes and the Vrishabhavathi River. The bench said that the KSPCB should place on record the action taken on notices issued to 356 apartments for not installing STPs, and functions of NGT committee in a week.