Madras HC refuses to halt Chennai municipal body from privatising sanitation work

The Madras High Court on Wednesday declined to halt the Greater Chennai Corporation from privatising sanitation work in two zones of the city.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a sanitation worker challenging the municipal corporation’s decision to outsource the task to a private agency for a contract worth Rs 276 crore.

A bench of Justice K Surender held that the matter was a policy decision of the government and that it cannot be quashed as it did not violate any law or constitutional provisions.

“In any democracy, it is the prerogative of the elected government to follow its own policy unless any illegality is committed in execution of the policy or such policy is contrary to the law or mala fide,” the court noted.

However, the court directed the state to negotiate with the private agency and ensure that the workers are paid the final wages.

The court also noted that the company was not extending a favour to the workers by employing them as they were “already trained and working since several years for the GCC”.

The petitioner K Bharathi, president of the labour rights group Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam, argued that transferring workers from the corporation to a private agency without the consent of the workers’ union and while an industrial...

Read more