The Delhi High Court today has issued notice to Delhi Government on a PIL seeking directions for registration of Construction Workers in the ‘Delhi Building & Other Construction Welfare Board’ so that construction labourers and workers may avail the benefits of scheme during this lockdown period due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The petition has been filed by Advocate Sunil Kumar Aledia, submits that there are lakhs of such unregistered workers across the state of Delhi. “…in the interest of justice the huge amounts of funds already collected ought to be utilized and the only way to do so is through the registration of all (or the maximum possible number) of construction workers as soon as practical.”
Petitioner annexed the article (dated 17.04.2020) published by The Indian Express stated that “living at construction sites or in their own accommodation but now with no access to essentials because of no income. As per data shared by the government in the Delhi Assembly in 2018, the board was formed in Delhi in 2002 and has since amassed over Rs 2,000 crore as cess collected under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996. Under the law, a registered worker can get assistance of up to Rs 10,000 on being hospitalised for five or more days. A building worker aged above 60 is entitled to pension of Rs 3,000 a month. The disability pension is also Rs 3,000 a month. Workers are also entitled to get educational and maternity assistance and loans for purchase of work-related tools.”
Petitioner said, “the present petition concerns the poorest of the poor who are located in the city of Delhi with no livelihood or means to earn a living, since they depend on daily wages earnt as construction and/or other workers/labour. Effective, coordinated, supervised and proper implementation of existing welfare statutes (and/or the rules thereunder) is imperative and critical in view of the current extraordinary situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic in India and in Delhi. The registration as construction workers and the benefits to be availed under the beneficial legislation are rights which must be granted equally to all construction workers. The Covid-19 pandemic and the declaration of a lockdown pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, have brought the violation of these rights into focus and made the already difficult provision of relief more difficult. The non provision of the relief to those construction workers who are registered to those who are not registered is a violation of the right to equality, as well as the right to life.”
“These labourers spend their blood and sweat for meagre daily wages for the development Delhi, India and of course for the profits of construction companies, building owners and builders. However due to the lack of responsibility taken by employers, governments and concerned departments alike, these workers are not just left to fend for themselves but are also deprived of the mandated benefits of crores of funds collected in their name. This fate of non-registration for welfare schemes has been faced by labourers and workers for far too long, and is particularly inflated by the Covid-19 lockdown,” he said.
He also mentioned in the petition that according to research by experts, there is a direct correlation between proper utilization of funds and increasing registration of eligible workers as beneficiaries under the BOCW Act.
The petitioner has sought directions for the registration of all the workers who are currently hosted at DUSIB shelter homes and emergency Shelter homes, Labour camps and construction sites under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.
The petitioner has also sought directions for making the registration process of workers be made easy, practical, and accessible for the average worker and laborer who is poor, illiterate, and uninformed of his rights.
–India Legal Bureau