Law: Constitution of Pakistan 1973

Section: 9, 14, 25, 27, 36

Law: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948

Section: 1, 22, & 23

  Summary The High Court allowed the petition by the Center for Rule of Law Islamabad Pakistan (CROLI) and the Pakistan United Christian Movement (PUCM), characterizing the rise in deaths among sewerage workers as a violation of fundamental rights. The court issued a Mandamus directing the Federal Government to mandate functional protective equipment, gas-monitoring devices, and first-aid arrangements across both public and private sectors. Furthermore, the Ministry of Law and Justice was directed to initiate the process of framing or amending legislation to ensure insurance coverage and compensation for workers in the event of injury or death. Tagline The State cannot treat sewerage workers as expendable beings; the failure to provide protective equipment for hazardous manual scavenging is a violation of the constitutional rights to life, dignity, and equality. ORDER; INAAM AMEEN MINHAS, J.- The petitioners, [Center for Rule of Law Islamabad Pakistan (“CROLI”) and Pakistan United Christian Movement (“PUCM”)], have filed the instant petition as a public interest litigation seeking directions to the respondents (i) to issue a uniform circular to all Federal and Provincial Ministries, as well as governmental, semi-governmental and regulated private institutions, mandating the provision of adequate protective equipment to all sewerage workers engaged in manual scavenging or the activity of manual scavenging be permanently banned (ii) respondent No.4/Ministry of Law to make new legislation or amend the already existing provisions regarding protection of rights of the minorities (iii) to take action against any public or private body that fails to provide protective gear or permits the continuation of manual scavenging and (iv) the sewerage workers shall have the insurance and their families shall be eligible for compensation in the event of injury or death arising from such work. The brief facts, forming background of the instant public interest petition, are that there is alarming rise in deaths of Christians engaged in manual scavenging, a hazardous practice involving the manual handling and disposal of human excreta in…