Only one in three disabled in Delhi eligible for workplace compensation

The Delhi High Court on November 11 dismissed a writ petition challenging the framework of Permanent Disablement Benefit (PDB) under the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Act. While upholding the validity of the relevant rules, the bench expressed profound concern over the paltry quantum of benefits paid to severely disabled workers and called upon the Central Government and the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to establish a mechanism for periodic revision in line with inflation and the cost of living.

The petitioner, a former employee of a rubber factory, suffered a horrific industrial accident in 1989 that resulted in the amputation of both hands. The ESIC granted him PDB with effect from 1990 at the rate of Rs 14 per day, a sum that was revised from time to time in accordance with the statutory formula. Despite his grievous disability, he continued working for another decade until he was terminated in 1999 on grounds of incapacity.

Industrial adjudication initially upheld the termination, but in 2012 a single judge bench of the Delhi High Court set aside the dismissal as illegal, awarding Rs 2 lakh as compensation in lieu of reinstatement (the factory having closed). On further appeal, a division bench in 2016 restored the labour court’s finding that the termination was lawful yet emphasised that the ESIC was duty-bound to ensure the petitioner received “fair and adequate compensation” at least commensurate with the minimum wages prevailing from time to time. The Division Bench directed the ESIC to re-examine the quantum of PDB.

The ESIC, however, passed an order on September 9, 2016 reaffirming that the benefit could only be calculated strictly in accordance with the ESI (Central) Rules, 1950, and declined any enhancement beyond the statutory ceiling. Contempt proceedings initiated by the petitioner were unsuccessful, prompting him to file the present writ petition. In it, he sought (i) the quashing of the ESIC’s 2016 order and (ii) a declaration that Rules 54, 57 and 60 of the ESI (Central) Rules, 1950 were unconstitutional for failing to link disablement benefits to revisions in minimum wages.

While the petitioner’s pleas were quashed, a significant amount of discourse has been initiated regarding the constitutionality of the provision of benefits for the disabled.

Backlog of disabled grows

When the disabled are not recognised themselves, then there remains no chance of them ever getting compensated for their work, despite losing their body functions in the process.

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To put matters into perspective, to be identified as a disabled person and derive the state’s benefits, one needs to have the Unique Disability ID (UDID) card. However, in the national capital itself, there is a backlog of 30,481 disabled people who have put forth their applications, according to the Pendency Report. With 21,126 of the pending applications being from beyond six months, the situation is getting more awry for the disabled in Delhi.

Most of the pending applications are being stalled in the Southeast district with 7,861 applications being held up in bureaucratic purgatory. The second worst figures of pendency can be seen in the New Delhi district, which has 4,888 pending applications, while the Central district records 3,524 applications.

The report also mentions that only 35.7% of Delhi’s disabled have been provided with UDID cards, amounting to only 1,03,257 people. The projected population of PWDs has been pegged at 2,88,905.

Illegal factories

In Delhi itself, a multitude of factory workers function without any semblance of being rewarded for their back-breaking labour. In dire straits of unemployment, a multitude of labourers in the national capital work without valid identification cards identifying them as employees at a certain factory. Thus, they are always barred from actually identifying themselves as a worker at any particular factory. “We are all dehari workers. They do not identify us as proper contractual workers, which is why we do not have any identity cards,” said Lalit, a worker who resides at Wazirpur’s slums near the industrial area.

Much of these issues spring from the fact that many of the factories in the national capital function without proper permits and licences. According to RP Singh, North District convener of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), more than 5,000 illegal industrial units are currently running across the district.

“We have mapped these units in areas such as Wazirpur Village, Mangolpuri, Siraspur and Jahangirpuri. None are registered, and all operate from residential premises,” he said.

Workers left defenceless

Owing to the fact that these units are unregistered and deliberately kept small-scale, they fall outside the ambit of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code, 2020. According to the code’s guidelines, the measures are only applicable to establishments with 20 or more workers (where power is used) or 40 or more workers (where manufacturing is carried on without power).

The code provides for safety measures for hazardous processes, regulated working hours, employment benefits and mandatory worker identification.

In practice, these clandestine factories are exempt from every statutory safeguard.

Sachin Kumar Manjhi, a 21-year-old worker at an unlicensed utensil-manufacturing unit in a residential lane, paid a heavy price for that exemption.

“It was an ordinary shift,” he recalled. “I was feeding material into the powder-making machine when my hand slipped. The blade sliced through two of my fingers.”

Without any gloves, guards or safety training, Manjhi lost both of his fingers, and was only provided Rs 3,000, following which he was fired in the same week.

Manjhi now lives with his father, Tarakeshwar, in a makeshift shelter beside Wazirpur’s fish market. His father explained why they never pursued justice. “There was no appointment letter, no identity card, no record of employment at all. The case collapsed before it began,” he said.

Even when metal shutters are pulled halfway down — ostensibly signalling closure — production continues behind them. “No worker here has an ID card,” Tarakeshwar said. “We work because we have no choice.”

RP Singh of AICCTU added that fatal accidents are disturbingly common. “In recent months, we received two reports of workers suffering severe injuries on the job. Complaints were lodged with the police, but without proof of employment, investigations went nowhere.”

A city-wide scandal

The problem extends far beyond North Delhi. In 2018, the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) identified 51,837 industrial units operating illegally in “non-conforming” (i.e., residential) areas across the capital.

Municipal authorities claim to have acted against roughly 20,000 of them, leaving approximately 30,000 still in operation.

In October 2023, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a fresh directive ordering the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi government’s Environment Department to close every factory functioning in residential zones. The tribunal reiterated its two-decade-old ruling from 2004 that any industrial unit established in a non-conforming area after 1990 must be shut down immediately.

On November 16, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) issued show-cause notices to 15 industrial units and closure notices to two others in Narela and Bawana industrial clusters. These were found to be functioning without mandatory consent to operate, the committee submitted before the tribunal.