The sewer was being cleaned outside the Supreme Court, the judge furious as soon as he heard- tell the officials that the same …
The PWD department of the Delhi government has been fined five lakh rupees in the case of cleaning the sewer with the scavengers right outside the Supreme Court. A minor was also included in the scavengers. The Supreme Court has already expressed concern about the deaths due to cleaning the sewer. The court has prohibited hand cleaning of sewer in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. When the case came to light that this was happening outside the Supreme Court, on Thursday (September 18, 2025), the court fined PWD Rs five lakh.
According to the PTI report, the court took action to impose the fine after these reports, which stated that the workers without security equipment outside the Supreme Court have been manually engaged in sewer cleaning manner. The bench said that this is a violation of the instructions of October 2023. The bench of Justice Arvind Kumar and Justice NV Anjaria also expressed displeasure over the reply of PWD. The PWD had argued that keeping in mind the monsoon, only the work of extracting silt from the covered drains was being done and there was no mistake of the authorities.
The court also warned that not only the officials of the Public Works Department but also other officials need to wake up from sleep so that its instructions can be ensured. The court said, “We clarify that if such incidents happen again, the court will be obliged to direct to register an FIR under BNS and BNSS.”
Senior Advocate K. K. K.K. Parmeshwar said that this incident clearly reflects neglect towards the binding instructions of the court. He informed that in the video evidence, a documentation has been done to employ the minor and a specific details of those forced for manual labor have also been made available.
Senior Advocate said, ‘The minor was employed and this video has been clearly recorded. An attempt was made to register a complaint at Tilak Marg police station, but neither the police nor the Public Works Department took appropriate action. This is not just a violation of labor law, but a violation of constitutional obligations. Penalty should be charged from the officials only.
