Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court refused to grant any relief to the chief officer and sanitary inspector of Patdi municipality in Surendranagar district. It rejected their plea to quash the FIR against them in connection with the death of two sanitation workers who were made to enter a sewer last month.
In this case, three sanitation workers – Chirag Patadiya, Jayesh Patadiya, and Chetan Patadiya – were sent to clean sewers by Patdi municipality and its contractor on Jan 21. There was a gas leak from the sewer tank, resulting in their deaths. Patdi town’s chief officer, Mosam Patel, sanitary inspector, Harshad Katariya, and contractor, Sanjay Patel, were booked under the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.
Two accused – Mosam Patel and Katariya – approached the HC for quashing the FIR, putting the blame on the contractor and claiming that they could not be saddled with the vicarious liability for the act committed by the contractor.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Sandeep Bhatt stated, “Considering the fact that the present petitioners are the chief officers of the nagarpalika, they can be said to be the executive heads of the nagarpalika. They are responsible for taking necessary precautions, supervising the work done by subordinates, and overseeing the contractors. Merely, the fact that they, being the chief officer, cannot shrug away from their liability arisen from such incident, whereby the nagarpalika has given contract to the contractor and contractor has not taken care to for having any precaution during work.”
The HC further stated, “Prima facie case is made out against the present petitioners as the head of the nagarpalika, the petitioners are equally responsible for ensuring that any activity conducted on behalf of the nagarpalika is carried out in accordance with the law and with the proper protection of the individuals involved — something that was not done in this case.”