The Supreme Court on Friday asked the States and Union Territories to furnish particulars of unorganised and migrant workers to the Centre. The court said a further order could be passed based on these details to protect the interests of workers in a case filed by activists Anjali Bharadwaj, Harsh Mander and Jagdeep Chhokar. The activists moved the apex court seeking directions to ensure food security, cash transfers and other welfare measures for migrant workers who went back to their villages during COVID-19 lockdown. The next hearing is on July 20.
The Centre, citing the registration of workers on the recently launched e-shram portal to compile the data of workers, told the Supreme Court that approximately 27.45 crore unorganised labourers or migrant workers have registered their details on the website. “Now our endeavour should be to consider the larger issue of protecting the interests of the unorganised labourers/migrant workers. The Central government should file a composite report in compliance with all the directions issued by this court in the order dated June 29, 2021. All States shall cooperate and submit all the particulars which are called for,” a Bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna said.
