Cleanliness for one class of citizens cannot be achieved by slavery of others: Bombay High Court

In a welfare state, the cleanliness of one class of citizens cannot be achieved by engaging in the slavery of others, the Bombay High Court recently observed. .Justice Milind Jadhav made the remark in a November 8, 2023 judgment uploaded on March 13, 2024, which upheld an award of the Industrial Tribunal directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to declare 580 casual workers as permanent employees of the BMC..The judge noted that it was a unique case that cannot be compared to an ordinary contractual dispute, since it involved workers who came from extreme backwardness which was linked to their caste, and considering that they were forced into menial work by a public body."The corporation is under a mandate to keep the city clean. Residents of the city have a fundamental right to a clean environment. They pay taxes. This fundamental right and the mandatory duty cannot be achieved by subjugating the fundamental rights of the workers to basic human dignity. The anxiety to find innovative ways to maintain a clean city can be understood, but in a welfare state, cleanliness for one class of citizens cannot be achieved by engaging in ‘slavery’ of the others," the judge added..The cleanliness for one class of citizens cannot be achieved by engaging in ‘slavery’ of the others.Bombay High Court.By way of background, the BMC had challenged an order of the Industrial Tribunal from March 22, 2021 which ordered the BMC to declare certain workers as its permanent employees. The BMC argued that these workers were neither appointed, engaged nor employed by BMC at any point in time.These workers are engaged by NGOs or Societies who pay them an honorarium as volunteers who attend to work, the BMC argued before the High Court.BMC also contended that there were no posts available for engaging these workers and that they could not seek the benefit of permanency nor could the Court create posts for them..The High Court noted that even if the workers were appointed by NGOs and societies, their principal employer continued to remain the BMC. It also held that the corporation could not continue to exploit the workers by merely citing that no vacant posts were available."The need to have these workers has existed for long on the basis of the work done by them. Not having vacant posts can be no reason to continue their exploitation. The work done by these workers is only in the larger public interest which cannot be denied. Hence, the submission that there are no vacant posts and therefore the Corporation is helpless is a sham argument," the Court held.The bench also lambasted the BMC for taking advantage of these workers who have been working round the year for the BMC."In the circumstances, setting aside the award in the equity jurisdiction of this court, will be a travesty of justice. The Award is therefore upheld and confirmed," the High Court held. .Senior Advocate AY Sakhare along with advocates Carlos Joel, RY Sirsikar and Santosh Parad represented the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Senior Advocate Sanjay Singhvi along with advocate Rohini Thyagarajan represented the Kachara Vahatuk Shramik Sangh, a labour rights organisation. .[Read Judgment]