Court on Its Own Motion Vs. The State of Jharkhand Through Its Chief Secretary and Ors - Court Judgment

1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P. (PIL) No.1073 of 2014 Court on its own motion … … … … … Petitioner Versus The State of Jharkhand and others ... ... ... Respondents ------ CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE D. N. PATEL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PRAMATH PATNAIK ----- For the Petitioner: Mr. Rajesh Shankar, Amicus Curiae For the State: Mr. Ajit Kumar, A.A.G. For the Respondents: M/s. J.C. to A.S.G.I., Sumeet Gadodia, A.K. Sah, A.K. Pandey, Rupesh Kumar Singh, M.K. Sinha, A.K. Mehta, Amrendra Kumar, Bharat Kumar, Sharad Kaushal, Anurag Kashyap, Shrijeet Choudhary, Indrajit Sinha ------ 10/Dated:

6. h January, 2015 Per D.N. Patel, J1 This Public Interest Litigation has been referred by Hon'ble Supreme Court to this Court and there are various suggestions by the Central Government as well as suggestions in the report given by National Institute of Occupational Health. They are as under: - (i) Comprehensive medical check-up of all workers in all coal fired thermal power stations by doctors appointed in consultation with the trade unions. First medical check up to be completed within six months. Then, to be done on yearly basis. (ii) Free and Comprehensive medical treatment to be provided to all workers found to be suffering from an occupational disease, ailment or accident, until cured or until death. (iii) Services of the workmen not to be terminated during illness and to be treated as if on duty. (iv) Compensation to be paid to the workmen suffering from any occupational disease, ailment or accident in accordance with the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923. (v) Modern protective equipment to be provided to workmen as recommended by an expert body in consultation with the trade unions. (vi) Strict control measures to be immediately adopted for the control of dust, heat, noise, vibration and radiation to be recommended by the National Institute of Operational Health (NIOH), Ahmadabad, Gujarat. (vii) All employees to be abide by the Code of Practice on 2 Occupational Safety and Health Audit as developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. (viii) Certain materials such as, asbestos, glass wool etc are used for insulation in Thermal Power Stations. It has been pointed out that whenever asbestos fibers are used for insulation and other purposes, the possibility of asbestos among the workers due to inhalation of Asbestos fibers cannot be ruled out. It has been suggested that there are safer substitutes, such as P-aramid polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), cellulose, polyacrylonitrile, glass fibres, graphite, are available, the use of which may be explored. (ix) It has been pointed out that the provisions for Environment (Protection) Act and its amendments from time to time applicable for power stations with respect to emission and discharge, ash utilization and hazardous waste management should be ensured to protect the ambit environment as well as maintain safe and healthy working conditions for the workers. (x) It has been suggested that ash needs to be utilized as per Central Pollution Control Board Annual Implementation Report and 100% utilization is to be achieved by the power plants within 5 years from the date of notification. It has been further suggested in the Report that because of exposure to fly ash, including metallic constituents such as, lead, arsenic, mercury and other morbidities are caused adversely affecting human health. (xi) It has been suggested that coal handling facilities are mechanized and automated to the extent possible. (xii) The Committee has stated that hazards associated with inhalation of coal dust might result in development of dust related morbidity such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, etc. (xii) It has been suggested that occupational health services should be provided for wide range benefit to the workers. Broadly, it should contain the facilities for occupational health delivery system with trained manpower and infrastructure including investigational facilities, environmental assessment,m evaluation of occupational health status and first aid training of the workers on regular basis. These services should be independent and separate from hospital services i.e. curative service, but should function in liaison with the curative service. (xiii) Periodic awareness programmes regarding the health and safety with active involvement of the workers should be organized, 3 covering each individual with the minimum annual average duration of 8 hours per workers. (xiv) Periodic medical examination, as required under the Factories Act, should be undertaken. (xv) Workers involved in Coal/Ash handling are prone to dust exposure related diseases and due attention is required to be given to those workers. (xvi) Radiological examination, as per recommendation of the Factories Act, has to be done on yearly basis. However, in the report, it has been suggested that in order to avoid unnecessary exposure of the human body to the radiation, regular yearly chest X-ray is not recommended, unless urgent and essential. Chest X-ray may be undertaken in every two years for initial 10 years and based on progression, rescheduling may be adopted. (xvii) It has been suggested that health record of the worker should be maintained in easily retrievable manner, preferably in electronic form. (xviii) Comprehensive documentation environment, health and safety specific to coal based thermal power projects should be framed. It should cover the legal provisions, management system, best practices, safe operation procedures, etc for various areas of thermal power plants. This will serve as a reference document for effective implementation of the provisions. (xix) Coal Fired Thermal Power Plants (in short 'CFTPPs') should have environmental and occupational health and safety management systems in place, which are auditable by third party, approved by the Government of India, Ministry of Power. (xx) The Factories Act for casual/contractual labour on health and safety issues should be given attention. (xxi) The Report suggests that occupational exposure to heat may cause heat related disorder, like heat exhaustion. (xxii) Noise and vibration exposures in higher doses than the permissible limits may result in noise-induced hearing loss, raised blood pressure, regional vascular disorders etc. (xxiii) Various chemicals used in CFTPPs, like chlorine, ammonia, fuel oil, which are released in the working and community environment, may be responsible for wide range of acute as well as chronic health impairments. (xxiv) Potential risks of musculo-skeletal disorders and injuries is 4 involved in manual handling of materials. This should be avoided. (xxv) The Report suggests that adequate measure should be undertaken for prevention of the risk of fire and explosives at the time of handling the material; (xxvi) Emergency preparedness on spot/off-spot emergency plans should be adopted by CFTPPs as protective measure for health and safety.

2) Counsel for the respondent No.21-Chief Factory Inspector of State of Jharkhand submits that a letter has been written by Chief Inspector of Factories to all the Factory Inspectors for giving a report of each respondent- manufacturing company. These reports are being awaited and hence, he is seeking time land letter has been written by Chief Factory Inspector in the month of July, 2014 and therefore, the counsel for the respondent No.21 is seeking time to file detailed affidavit giving summary of the reports of the Factory Inspectors and the annexure to all the reports given by different Factory Inspectors shall be annexed and affidavit shall be filed by respondent No.21.

3) Hence, the matter is adjourned to be enlisted on 10.02.2015. (D. N. Patel, J) Manoj/ (Pramath Patnaik, J)