HC directs free ration supplies to migrant workers without cards

Chennai

A division bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran and VM Velumani passed the direction after reviving a habeas corpus plea related to migrant workers seeking to be freed from a brick kiln in Mumbai. The bench revived the plea based on Supreme Court direction which gave liberty to the respective high court to proceed with the case of migrant labourers which were already pending.

Moreover, both the Central and State governments have not answered the questions raised by this court by an order dated May 15 concerning migrant workers, the bench held. The petitioner, AP Suryaprakasam, had submitted that the State Government’s announcement that ration supplies would be provided only to cardholders would affect lakhs of migrant labourers, who are without ration cards.

Also, the bench, citing the incident raised by the petitioner about the pregnant wife of a migrant labourer, who delivered in an autorickshaw after being turned away from both private and government hospitals for want of corona-free certificate and the child felling off the vehicle and sustaining injuries, said: “It is really unfortunate that such a treatment had been meted out to a newborn. Merely because the parents are migrant labourers, medical facilities cannot be denied.”

“Though the details of the said migrant labourer have not been provided by the petitioner, he would state that the incident had happened at Thudiyalur in Coimbatore and was also telecast on a news channel. Based on the said information, the authorities concerned shall verify, trace out the migrant labourer’s family and provide all necessary medical assistance,” the bench held.

However, the bench, on granting time to the Additional Public Prosecutor to get instructions on the action taken against the brick kiln owner who is said to have caused injuries to the migrant labourers, posted the plea to July 13 for filing counter-affidavit.