The Supreme Court Friday directed that an amount of Rs 25 lakh, deposited in the apex court registry by an advocate who had offered the money for travel of migrant workers from Mumbai to their native places in Uttar Pradesh amid Covid-19 pandemic, be disbursed to family members of five workers who had died during their journey back to their home.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan noted in its order that petitioner (advocate) has said in his application that the amount deposited by him in the registry should be disbursed as compensation to those migrants, who had died while taking journey from different places to reach their home town.
The bench, also comprising Justices S K Kaul and M R Shah, noted that five names of deceased migrant workers who had died during their journey have been given in the application and the petitioner has urged that the amount be disbursed to their families members.
The counsel appearing for petitioner Sagheer Ahmed Khan told the bench that they would furnish the addresses of family members of these deceased within two weeks.
"After the aforesaid details of the persons and their kith and kin is received, the registry of this court shall send intimation to legal services authority of the district concerned which shall verify the details and the said amount shall be transferred by the registry to the legal services authority of the district concerned which shall ensure that the said amount is disbursed to the kith and kin of the migrant workers after due verification by legal service authority of the district concerned," the bench said in its order.
"The registry shall transfer the amount, as requested, to the concerned five district legal services authorities," the bench said while disposing of the petition.
The bench also noted in its order that in pursuance to its June 4 order, the petitioner has deposited an amount of Rs 25 lakh in the apex court registry.
The petitioner had earlier told the court that he wanted that the amount be used for the travel of migrant workers from Mumbai to Sant Kabir Nagar and other places in Uttar Pradesh.
On May 15, the top court had sought responses from the Centre and the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra on Khan's plea seeking directions to provide safe and secure means of transportation to migrants travelling from Mumbai to their native places amid COVID-19 pandemic.
The petitioner had earlier told the apex court that there were no means for these people to go back to their native places in Uttar Pradesh from Mumbai and they were unable to access the mechanism laid down to apply for availing transport facility.
The plea had sought directions to ensure that migrant workers in Mumbai, particularly those hailing from Sant Kabir Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, are safely transported home so that their continuous suffering in their attempts to reach their destination comes to an end.
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