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Peoples Rights and Social Research Centre (PRASAR) vs Union of India

Not available · 2024 INSC 582Decided 6 Aug 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Prasanna Bhalachandra Varale

Background

A Delhi-based NGO working on occupational health filed this writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution in 2006, raising the grave and continuing problem of silicosis, an incurable lung disease caused by prolonged inhalation of silica dust, among stone-crusher, stone-quarry, and construction workers across India due to poor detection, monitoring, and remedial measures. A related transferred case raising similar issues was clubbed with this petition. Over the years the matter drew in multiple regulatory and monitoring bodies, including the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), and the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS).

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court's final directions focused on two things going forward: first, ensuring states and industries take necessary preventive steps against the spread of silicosis; and second, ensuring affected workers or their next of kin receive adequate compensation as swiftly as possible. It directed the NHRC to oversee the compensation process nationally, directed the ESIC and state Chief Secretaries to cooperate with the NHRC to ensure efficient, non-delayed disbursement, and directed the Court's own Registry to forward all relevant reports and affidavits from state committees, the CPCB, NHRC, and DGMS to the NGT and NHRC to help them carry out their roles effectively. Both the writ petition and the connected transferred case were disposed of in these terms, with petitioners left free to approach the NGT and NHRC directly for implementation.

Lesson Learnt

Long-running public interest litigation on occupational health hazards can end not with a single sweeping order but with a structured handover of ongoing monitoring and compensation responsibilities to specialised bodies (NHRC, ESIC, NGT), showing how courts use PILs to set up lasting institutional accountability rather than one-time relief.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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