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A single bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday referred to the acting chief justice for consideration as public interest litigation (PIL), a case highlighting the menace of unhygienic camps housing migrant workers. Justice K Vinod Chandran referred the case filed by MA Jose of Ambalamedu to a bench headed by acting chief justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan to decide whether a suo motu PIL can be initiated. Jose had complained about the unhygienic labour camp in the property adjacent to his house. Septic waste from the labour camp is seeping into his well, the petitioner had alleged. The petitioner had produced a report regarding testing of water sample from the well at Regional Analytical Lab at Kakkanad that showed the presence of coliform at the rate of 1,600mpn/100ml, whereas the permissible limit as per WHO standards was lesser than 2mpn/100ml. An advocate commission appointed by the court had found over 200 labourers staying in 30 narrow rooms, with only two toilets available. Water and other waste from the toilets was found to be inside the kitchen and bedroom of the petitioner's building, which is situated less than two feet away. Walls of the building housing the workers were splattered with spit and chewing pan. There was no septic tank and faecal waste was collected in five open pits in the property. The workers were using water from a bore-well situated 3.8 feet from the pits. Water in the petitioner's well looked dirty and polluted and foul smell was emanating, the advocate commissioner's report had said. The owners of the building, Iype Mathai and Jose Mathai of Parambikuzhy House in Ambalamedu, had contended through advocate Mathews K Philip that they have given the building on lease and have no responsibility. The court had dismissed this contention and had said that owners of the building have the primary responsibility to see that any activity carried on within the premises is not harmful or dangerous to the public in general and the residents of the locality in particular. While ordering Ernakulam district collector to close down the camp, the court had termed unhygienic and unscientific labour camps a social malady that is now affecting the State of Kerala. While it is the crime committed by migrant labourers that come to notice, it should also be noted that the persons who bring such labourers to the state treat them dismally and house them in inhuman conditions, the judgment had said. Before parting with the case, the court had stated that isolating migrant labourers would only result in a backlash in the form of crimes. "An enlightened society has to take steps to assimilate the migrant population into their adopted community, instilling in them a feeling of oneness, which alone could result in working together towards regional aspirations and development, in a country as varied and vibrant as ours. Isolating some and treating them as second-class citizens can only lead to backlash by way of crimes against civil society and result in deleterious consequence of widespread public harm and injury, including spread of epidemics, which latter consequence is highlighted in the present case," the judgment stated.
Keywords
Kerala High Court, PIL, unhygienic labour camp, Kakkanad, WHO, worker, migrant laboureres, second class citizens, epidemic
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