SC Seeks Govt’s Reply On Plea Seeking Minimum Wage To Migrants Amidst Lockdown
The Supreme Court sought the response of the government in a plea seeking to ensure payment of minimum wage to all migrant workers within a week, whether employed by establishments or contractors or self-employed.
The petition was filed by activists Harsh Mander and Anjali Bhardwaj on April 3 who pointed out that migrant workers are unable to work and earn wages during the 21-day nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. A Bench comprising of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Deepak Gupta posted the case for next hearing on April 7.
The petitioners submitted that the lockdown order issued March 24, for which no prior intimation was given, created a panic across the country and led to instantaneous loss of jobs and wages of millions of migrant workers employed in establishments and households across India or self-employed as street vendors, rickshaw pullers, petty job workers, etc.
“The lockdown order ignores the harsh realities that workers have to persistently face in cities further compounded when a lockdown order deprives them of their job, daily wages and hence means of survival, thus violating their Article 21 right to life rights,” the petition stated.
The SC asked the Centre for its response a petition praying that Covid-19 test should be provided free of cost to all citizens at all private and government-run testing laboratories.
At present, private laboratories are allowed to charge people to test for Coronavirus, though its price is capped at Rs 4,500.
“It is urgently required that the respondents have to provide free of cost testing for covid-19 to all citizens”, the petition stated.
The petitioner, advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi, submitted that government hospitals are packed to capacity and it has become difficult for the common man to get himself/herself tested in government-run labs. With no alternative in sight, they are forced to pay money to get the tests done at private labs, the petition stated. Saddling ordinary citizens with such financial burden effectively deprives them of their accessibility to medical facilities and is violative of right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, the petitioner submitted.
Sudhi also pointed out that there are only 114 identified testing centers for Covid-19 in a country with a population of 1.3 billion people. Due to this, he claimed that adequate testing was not happening making the situation dangerous with each passing day.
He, therefore, prayed that testing facilities should be ramped up so as to ensure that adequate tests are done and all Covid-19 tests must be conducted by pathological laboratories accredited with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
By
Babita Sharma