The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 - Salient Features

Night soil or Night Man is a euphemism for human faeces collected at night from cesspools, privies, etc. and sometimes used as a fertilizer.

Salient Features of this Act

1. This act has been enacted to provide for the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers, rehabilitation of manual scavengers and their families, and for other incidental matters.

2. Terms such as “hazardous cleaning”, “insanitary latrine” and “manual scavenger” have been explicitly defined in the act.

3. The act contains provisions for identification of Insanitary Latrines and converting them into Sanitary Latrines. The local authorities will carry out a survey of insanitary latrines existing within its jurisdiction. It will also give notice to the occupier to either demolish the insanitary latrine or convert it into a sanitary latrine within a period of six months. The local authority also has to construct such number of sanitary community latrines as it considers necessary, in the areas where insanitary latrines have been found. [Section 4]

4. Section 5 of the Act states that no person or authority construct an Insanitary Latrine or employ a Manual Scavenger to do manual scavenging. Also, every existing insanitary latrine, shall either be demolished or be converted into a sanitary latrine, by the occupier at his own cost within six months. If any occupier fails to demolish an insanitary latrine or convert it into a sanitary latrine within the stipulated period, the local authority having jurisdiction shall after giving notice, either convert such latrine into a sanitary latrine, or demolish such insanitary latrine, and shall be entitled to recover the cost of such conversion or demolition from the Occupier.

5. All previous Contracts and agreements entered into before the commencement of this act, engaging or employing a person for the purpose of manual scavenging shall be terminated and such contract, agreement or other instrument shall be void. [Section 6 (1)]

6. No person employed as a manual scavenger on a full-time basis shall be retrenched by his employer, but shall be retained, subject to his willingness, in employment on at least the same emoluments, and shall be assigned work other than manual scavenging. [Section 6 (2)]

7. Section 7 of the Act reads as under:

“Prohibition of persons from engagement or employment for hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks- No person, local authority or any agency shall, from such date as the State Government may notify, which shall not be later than one year from the date of commencement of this Act, engage or employ, either directly or indirectly, any person for hazardous cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank.”

8. Section 8 and Section 9 of the Act provide for penalty and punishment in this regard. The maximum punishment is One Year Imprisonment (first time offender) and 2 Years imprisonment (second time offenders) and maximum penalty is fifty thousand rupees (first time offender) and one lakh (for subsequent offenders).

9. The act also contains provisions with respect to identification and rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers. A list of manual scavengers shall be made and published by the government.

10. All those Manual Scavengers will be entitled to

            a. One Time Cash Assistance.

            b. His children shall be entitled to scholarship.

c. He shall be allotted a Residential Plot and Financial Assistance for House Construction.

d. At least One Adult Member of his family shall be given training in a livelihood skill and shall be paid a monthly stipend of not less than three thousand rupees, during the period of such training.

e. At least one adult member of his family shall be given subsidy and concessional loan for taking up an alternative occupation on a sustainable basis.

f. Such other legal and programmatic assistance.

11. District Magistrate and the local municipal authorities will be the responsible persons in this regard. They will have to make sure that no person is employed as manual scavenger, no one constructs or uses an insanitary latrine and manual scavengers are rehabilitated as per the provisions of the act.

12. The government may also appoint Inspectors for the purpose of this act to exercise their powers under this Act.

13. The Act also provides for the establishment of Vigilance Committees for each district and each sub-division. It will be presided over by the District Magistrate.

14. The Vigilance Committee shall advise the District Magistrate for proper implementation of this act. It will also oversee rehabilitation of manual scavengers monitor the registration of offences under this Act.

15. There shall also be a State Monitoring Committee (Presided over by the Chief Minister of State or a Minister nominated by him) and a Central Monitoring Committee (Presided over by the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment) for ensuring effective implementation of the act and establishing co-ordination between various agencies.

16. The act has also outlined the functions of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. This commission shall

            a. Monitor the implementation of this Act.

b. Enquire into complaints regarding contravention of the provisions of the Act, and give recommendations for further action.

c. Advise the Central and the State Governments for effective implementation.

d. Take suo motu notice of matter relating to non-implementation of this Act.