HC unhappy over non-payment of compensation to families of

Expressing dissatisfaction over non-payment of compensation to next of kin of scavengers who died on duty, the Madras High Court directed the Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply department, to be present in the court on October 7 to give an explanation.
Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, heading the first bench, orally sought to know why the government was not keen on paying the compensation and why it was not serious about it.
The CJ also wanted to know why the government was not taking any decision in this regard when it is spending huge amounts on different occasions.

The first bench, comprising the CJ and Justice T S Sivagnanam before whom a PIL filed by an NGO Change India came up, said "we are neither satisfied with the affidavit nor with the answers given by the learned Government Pleader, as it appears that not a single person, since passing of our order, has been paid compensation."
"The three-month period granted to the government appears to have been spent only in collecting data, over which the petitioner seeks to raise certain questions," the bench said.
"The Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, shall remain present in the Court on 07/10/2015, the next hearing date," it said.

Change India listed more than 150 people, with names and addresses, who it alleged, were killed during manual scavenging work in Tamil Nadu since 1993.

The PIL sought a direction to the government to implement all provisions of the 'Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers & Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.'
The petitioner alleged that after the HC direction banning deployment of people as scavengers, 48 workers were reported to have been killed in this process of cleaning.
Change India said they had sent a memorandum to the Chief Secretary to arrange award of Rs 10 lakh compensation each to families of the deceased as per the directions of the Supreme Court. As there was no response, they again moved the court.

The petitioner sought a direction from the Court to the government and the authorities concerned to award compensation of Rs 10 lakh each since 1993 to the families.