 bill no 19 of 2019 the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation (amendment) bill, 2019 by dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp a billfurther to amend the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013be it enacted by parliament in the seventieth year of the republic of india as follows:—(i) in sub-section (1)—(a) for clauses (d) and (e) the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:—5'(d) "hazardous cleaning" by an employee, in relation to sewer or septic tank means manually entering into a septic tank or sewer to manually clean it;10(e) "insanitary latrine" means a latrine which requires human excreta to be cleaned or otherwise handled manually, in situ, in an open drain or pit into which the excreta is discharged or flushed out, before the excreta fully decomposes; and (b) for part (a) of explanation to clause (g), the following part shall be substituted, namely—'(a) "engaged or employed" means being engaged or employed on a regular, contract, private, casual or daily wage basis or any other forms of employment;'15amendment of section 53 in section 5 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), in the second proviso, for the words "may give assistance", the words "shall give assistance" shall be substitutedamendment of section 64 in section 6 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), for the words "and shall be assigned work other than manual scavenging", the words "and shall be assigned nonscavenging dignified work" shall be substituted205 in section 13 of the principal act, in sub-section (1), amendment of section 13(i) in clause (a), after sub-clause (ii), the following shall be inserted, namely—25"(iii) a compensation, not less than rupees one lakh, in addition to cash assistance in sub-clause (ii), as one time cash payment on identification in the survey under section 12" (ii) for clause (b), the following shall be substituted, namely—"(b) "all the children of the manual scavenger shall be entitled to free education from primary to higher education including professional, doctoral and post-doctoral for one generation"30amendment of section 206 in section 20 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), in clause (b), the words 'he has reasonable cause to believe', shall be omitted7 in section 23 of the principal act, amendment of section 23(i) for sub-section (2), and explanation thereunder the following sub-section and explanation shall be substituted, namely—35"(2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this act has been committed by a company, the director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordinglyexplanation—for the purposes of this section,—40(a) "company" means any body corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals;(b) "director" in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm; and (c) public officials to be held accountable for non-implementation of this act, which shall be construed as dereliction of duty by the public official"8 in section 31 of the principal act,—amendment of section 31(i) in sub-section (1)—(a) in clause (b), for the words "enquire into complaints", the words"investigate into complaints" shall be substituted; and(b) after clause (d), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—5"(e) to impose fine on a person, if found guilty, after investigation under clause (b), of contravening the provisions of this act"(ii) for sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—"(2) in the discharge of its functions under sub-section (1), the national commission shall have the power to—10(a) call for information with respect to any matter specified in that sub-section from any government or local or other authority; and(b) summon and enforce the attendance of any person from any part of india and examine him on oath" statement of objects and reasonsthe prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013was enacted to prohibit employment as manual scavengers and for rehabilitation of manual scavengers and their families the bill aims to correct the deficiencies in the principal act and recognizes that manual scavenging in itself is a hazardous activity, even if done with or without protective gear protective gears given to scavengers are of poor quality and they have to manually clean sewers or septic tanks which is a violation of human dignity and fundamental rights as enshrined in the constitution this bill also makes the state government duly accountable and responsible to provide proper sanitation to people people who are identified as manual scavengers under this act, their children will be imparted free education from the primary to post-doctoral level for one generation, an extremely pertinent step required to undo the historical injustices they have been subjected toit recognizes not just contract workers but also people who work on daily wage basis or any other form of employment and perform such prohibited in law the bill makes liable every company, private or public official under the central, state or local authority who employs any person as manual scavengers under the act and make it a punishable offence this step becomes essential for proper implementation of this law as it is widely known that the government bodies employ and aid the casteist practice of manual scavenging the national commission for safai karamcharis is empowered to monitor and enquire into the complaints regarding the contravention of the provisions of this act but no one has been punished even if the accused is found guilty by the commission due to inherent lacuna in the act it is, therefore, necessary that the national commission for safai karamcharis be empowered to summon the accused, investigate into the complaints, and impose fine on the accused, if found guilty on completion of investigation in the matterhence, this bill new delhi;kirit premjibhai solankijanuary, 17, 2019 financial memorandumclause 5 of the bill provides for compensation to be paid to manual scavengers it also provides for providing free education to children of manual scavengers the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of about rupees one hundred crore per annum will be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore is also likely to be involved annexure extract from the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation (amendment) act, 2013 (act no 25 of 2013)2 (1) in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—definitions [10] m c(d) "hazardous cleaning" by an employee, in relation to a sewer or septic tank, means its manual cleaning by such employee without the employer fulfilling his obligations to provide protective gear and other cleaning devices and ensuring observance of safety precautions, as may be prescribed or provided in any other law, for the time being in force or rules made thereunder;(e) "insanitary latrine" means a latrine which requires human excreta to be cleaned or otherwise handled manually, either in situ, or in an open drain or pit into which the excreta is discharged or flushed out, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed: provided that a water flush latrine in a railway passenger coach, when cleaned by an employee with the help of such devices and using such protective gear, as the central government may notify in this behalf, shall not be deemed to be an insanitary latrine [10] m c(g) "manual scavenger" means a person engaged or employed, at the commencement of this act or at any time thereafter, by an individual or a local authority or an agency or a contractor, for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of, or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or pit into which the human excreta from the insanitary latrines is disposed of, or on a railway track or in such other spaces or premises, as the central government or a state government may notify, before the excreta fully decomposes in such manner as may be prescribed, and the expression "manual scavenging" shall be construed accordinglyexplanation—for the purpose of this clause,— (a) "engaged or employed" means being engaged or employed on a regular or contract basis;(b) a person engaged or employed to clean excreta with the help of such devices and using such protective gear, as the central government may notify in this behalf, shall not be deemed to be a 'manual scavenger'; [10] m c5 (1)    (2) every insanitary latrine existing on the date of commencement of this act, shall either be demolished or be converted into a sanitary latrine, by the occupier at his own cost, before the expiry of the period so specified in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 4:prohibition of insanitary latrines and employment and engagement of manual scavengerprovided that where there are several occupiers in relation to an insanitary latrine, the liability to demolish or convert it shall lie with,—(a) the owner of the premises, in case one of the occupiers happens to be the owner; and(b) all the occupiers, jointly and severally, in all other cases:provided that the state government may give assistance for conversion of insanitary latrines into sanitary latrines to occupiers from such categories of persons and on such scale, as it may, by notification, specify:provided further that non-receipt of state assistance shall not be a valid ground to maintain or use an insanitary latrine, beyond the said period of nine months    6 (1)     contract's, agreement, etc, to be void(2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), no person employed or engaged as a manual scavenger on a full-time basis shall be retrenched by his employer, but shall be retained, subject to his willingness, in employment on at least the same emoluments, and shall be  assigned work other than manual scavenging    13 (1) any person included in the final list of manual scavengers published in pursuance of sub-section (6) of section 11 or added thereto in pursuance of sub-section (3) of section 12, shall be rehabilitated in the following manner, namely:—(a) he shall be given, within one month,—rehabilitation of persons identified as manual scavengers by a municipality(i) a photo identity card, containing, inter alia, details of all members of his family dependent on him, and(ii) such initial, one time, cash assistance, as may be prescribed;(b) his children shall be entitled to scholarship as per the relevant scheme of the central government or the state government or the local authorities, as the case may be;    20 (1)     appointment of inspectors and their powers(2) subject to any rules made in this behalf, an inspector may, within the local limits of his jurisdiction, enter, at all reasonable times, with such assistance as he considers necessary, any premises or place for the purpose of,—(a)     (b) examine any person whom he finds in such premises or place and who, he has reasonable cause to believe, is employed as a manual scavenger therein, or is otherwise in a position to furnish information about compliance or non-compliance with the provisions of this act and the rules made thereunder; [10] m c23 (1) where an offence under this act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed, was in charge of, and was responsible to, the company for the conduct of the business of the company, as well as the company, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly(2) notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where any offence under this act has been committed by a company and it is proved that offence has been committed with the consent or connivance of, or is attributable to, any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the company, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordinglyexplanation—for the purposes of this section,—(a) "company" means anybody corporate and includes a firm or other association of individuals; and(b) "director" in relation to a firm, means a partner in the firm    31 the national commission for safai karamcharis shall perform the following functions, namely:—(a) to monitor the implementation of this act;function of national commission for safai karamcharis(b) to enquire into complaints regarding contravention of the provisions of this act, and to convey its findings to the concerned authorities with recommendations requiring further action;(c) to advise the central and the state governments for effective implementation of the provisions of this act; and(d) to take suo motu notice of matter relating to non-implementation of this act    ———— a billto amend the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation act, 2013————(dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp)mgipmrnd—3299ls(s3)—31-01-2019