Supreme Court frowns on ‘slow’ registration of migrants

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 24

Frowning upon the “very slow” process in registration of migrant workers, the Supreme Court on Monday said it must be expedited to ensure that benefits of government schemes could be extended to them during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are of the view that for accessing of any benefit percolating from any scheme framed by the Centre or the states for the benefit of unorganised workers or migrant workers, registration of workers is essential, which registration shall facilitate the unorganised workers to assess the scheme and reap the benefit,” a Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice MR Shah said. The Bench said registration of unorganised workers should be completed as early as possible and there should be a common national database for all organised workers situated in different states. The process initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for creating a national database for unorganised workers should be completed with collaboration and coordination of the states, which may serve registration for extending different schemes by states and the Centre.

The top court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to file a detailed affidavit with regard to all these issues in two weeks. “We are further of the view that there should be suitable mechanisms to monitor and supervise whether the benefits of the welfare schemes reach the beneficiaries which may be from grassroots levels to the higher authorities with names and places of beneficiaries so that the purposes for such schemes are achieved,” the court said.