Supreme Court Expresses Dismay At Delay In Appointment Of National Safai Karamchari Commission Members

The Supreme Court, on January 27, expressed its dismay over the lack of progress in the appointment of the Chairman and members of the National Safai Karamchari Commission. It noted that despite repeated assurances, there has been no compliance.

The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) is a statutory body of the Government of India set up to safeguard the rights, dignity, and welfare of Safai Karamcharis, particularly those engaged in sanitation work such as manual scavenging. It is constituted as per National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993.

Noting that the appointments are moving at a "snail's pace," a bench comprising Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice PB Varale gave one last opportunity of four weeks for such appointments to take place. Failing which, the Court will be forced to appoint an ad hoc Committee to take over the work of the Safai Karamchari Commission.

In the order passed on January 27, the Court observed :

"Despite repeated orders passed by this Court and persuading the respondent(s) to appoint Chairman and Members of the Safai Karamchari Commission and placing on record the repeated assurances given by the learned Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor General, the matter was adjourned from time to time. However, there seems to be little progress or no progress at all in this direction. The affidavit of compliance filed would also indicate such appointment's are moving at a snail's pace.

As such, this Court is not satisfied with the reply filed and we make it explicitly clear that if within four weeks from today such appointment is not being made, this Court will be preforced to appoint an adhoc Committee for taking over the work of Safai  Karamchari Commission," the Court noted in its order.

On January 20, the bench had allowed Union's plea to file an affidavit giving the timeline for the appointments to be made. However, when the matter was taken up on January 27, the Court noted that the compliance affidavit shows that the Union is not serious about filing the vacancy in the National Safai Kamarchai despite repeated assurances. 

In this matter, the Supreme Court had passed a comprehensive order in the October 2023 judgment enhancing the compensation for manual scavenging death to Rs. 30 lakhs. The Court continued to pass various directions from time to time for the "complete eradication" of manual scavening and sewer cleaning. The first set of directions after the October order came in January 2025, where orders were passed in terms of monitoring the eradication of this practice from the top metropolitan cities. The Court had also taken cognisance of the manual scavening practice outside the premises of its own building and ordered the authorities to pay compensation.