Delhi High Court gives exemplary compensation of Rs. 1.23 Crores to CWG construction workers

Taking a very serious note of callousness of State Government towards construction workers engaged by various Government Agencies under various projects for Common Wealth Games, Division Bench of Hon’ble Delhi High Court comprising Chief Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice Manmohan, on 22.09.2010 has warned the state authorities to be mindful of their obligations and has awarded compensation to the victim workmen. Hon’ble Court observed:

“Be it noted, the said authority should not feel that their job is over because the Member Secretary, DLSA is holding legal aid camps or assisting them. If the said authorities forget their statutory obligations, we may think of directing the State Government to initiate disciplinary proceedings against them.”

This order has come in the background of incident dated 21.09.10 where a footbridge near Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue of the Commonwealth Games, collapsed rendering 23 construction workers injured and 4 critically injured. Delhi Government announced Rs 50,000/- for injured workers and Rs 1,00,000/- for critically injured workers as compensation which Hon’ble Delhi High Court has increased to Rs. 1,00,000/- and Rs, 3,00,000/- respectively. In total the compensation so awarded reaches Rupees 35,00,000/-.

On being informed that a First Information Report has been registered by the Police regarding this incident, Hon’ble court directed the investigation to be conducted by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch).

The court has passed these directions while hearing public interest litigation filed by People's Union for Democratic Rights on the issue of gross violations being done by the State Government in pursuit of Common Wealth Games. This latest order confirms that death of 109 workmen working under Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) only and till now in only 65 cases compensation has been paid by DMRC and for rest 44 cases Delhi Legal Services Authority is making intervention. However Court directed ex-gratia payment amounting to Rupees 2,00,000/- be paid within a period of two weeks to the legal heirs of deceased workmen, pending final decision of the Labour Welfare Fund Committee. Responding to the issue of contractors not making any arrangements for safety of workmen, Court has directed the Labour Commissioner, the Deputy Labour Commissioner and the Assistant Labour Commissioner to visit each site where work is being conducted by various other agencies and to find out the number of deaths occurred on those sites and to ensure that safety equipments are given to the workmen and has warned of contempt proceedings in case of any failure in this regard.

When lawyer for the petitioner Adv . Tariq Adeeb, appraised the Court about no improvement in the living conditions of the workmen in spite of Court’s earlier direction, Court directed:

“…We direct that the Chairman of NDMC, Commissioner of MCD, Vice-Chairman of DDA, Director General of Sports Authority of India, Director General of CPWD, Managing Director of Delhi International Airport Limited and Executive Director of DMRC shall be personally liable if any deviancy is shown.”

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Commonwealth Construction Workers Relief: DLSA to look into the registration process of workers

After a petition filed by PUDR and others in the matter of PUDR & Ors vs Union of India and others filed in Delhi High Court, the Hon`ble Court has given various directions to the respondents favoring workers working at the construction sites of Commonwealth Games are as follows :-

i) All the authorities who are involved and are covered by the Committee by this Court shall make all possible efforts to register the workers so that no worker remains unidentified and further is in a position to avail the statutory benefits and future litigation is avoided. ii) The pass book should be opened in respect of all the workers. All benefits that are accruable on the basis of issuance of passbooks shall be monitored by the Labor Department. Be it noted, we are not finding any fault with the functioning of the department of the but we are only stating that one must remind oneself of one’s duty, more so, when dealing with the peoples who are working in an atmosphere to have their food, shelter and clothing and live a life with acceptable dignity.

iii) The education scheme, which has been introduced, has to be appropriately implemented so that a child of a worker gets necessary education. It should be borne in mind by all concerned that “education is the spine of a civilized society”.

iv) As far as the medical benefits, maternity benefits and death benefits are concerned, the same be provided as per the provisions in the Acts and the schemes framed there under.


v) The petitioner is at liberty to have assistance of the senior persons from the field of academics and other personalities whose names find mention at page 32 of the petition to assist the workmen to fill up the forms to have the benefit.

vi) All the respondents shall file their requisite response/steps taken within four weeks keeping in view the aforesaid directions.


But there was no compliance by the respondents of these directions from the Hon`ble Court. So the Hon`ble Court set up a committee of three lawyer from the DLSA (Delhi Legal Service Authority) assisted by the petitioner’s lawyer Mr.Tariq Adeeb to look into the registration procedure at the various sites of Commonwealth Games and the camps for registration should be held site-wise and the efforts to be made to sensitize the workers about their rights. The report should be submitted before next date of hearing

Copy of the Order

Orders from Patna High Court on Child Trafficking

Summary for the Order on Trafficking PIL in Patna High Court

Patna High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Rekha M. Doshit and Justice Jyoti Saran on 7th Sept 2010 gave an Order on the PIL on Child Trafficking argued and facilitated by HRLN Patna Advocate Vikash Kumar Pankaj for Petitioners Bachpan Bachao Andolan directed the State respondents to convey it to the concerned officers of the State working on the issue of Trafficking about the strengthening the measures. The order also stated that “the officers and the committee vested with power to act for the welfare of the children will be given appropriate training in respect of their duties and in the manner in which duties are required to be performed. The Order also assures to ensure coordination among the different departments of the State like the Social Welfare Department, Police Department, Labour Department etc.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Rekha M. Doshit and Justice Jyoti Saran directed the state government to file its reply within three weeks earlier in July 2010, asking what steps it had taken to stop child trafficking for forced labour and prostitution from the state. The petitioner, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an NGO working in the field of protection of human rights and child labour, submitted that the state government had chalked out a plan of action on June 16, 2009, to stop the abuse of child labour. However, the plan was never implemented despite getting cabinet approval.
To buttress its point, the petitioner cited Census 2001, according to which Bihar accounted for 8.9 per cent of child labourers in India in the age group of 5-14 years, numbering 5.4 lakh as main workers (who work for six months or more in a year) in the same age group. Around 5.8 lakh worked as marginal workers (who work for less than six months in a year). Counsel for state A. Amanullah submitted before the court that the state government was ready to do all things possible raised in the PIL.

For copy of order and details contact:

Email: antitrafficking@hrln.org, patna@hrln.org