NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday agreed to file a detailed status report on steps taken to take care of migrant workers, who embarked on foot march to their homes after March 23 lockdown, but strongly contested the credentials of the PIL petitioners accusing them of contributing nothing to the national fight to contain spread of Covid-19.

Two petitions by three activists - Harsh Mandher , Anjali Bharadwaj and Swami Agnivesh - through activist lawyers Prashant Bhushan and Colin Gonsalves was taken up for hearing through video conferencing by a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta, which wanted to know the steps taken by the governments to ameliorate the difficulties faced by migrant workers. The activists are demanding that governments must pay basic minimum wages to all migrant workers, including the self employed ones like rickshaw pullers and those working in the unorganised sector terming them as the most vulnerable.

The activists also punched holes in the Arvind Kejriwal government's claim of feeding four lakh persons daily by alleging that only few hundreds in various localities get food leaving a vast majority resigned to the fate in huger.

Solicitor general told the court that there was no need to issue notice to the Centre as it is willing to file status report of the exemplary work done by governments in providing shelter, food and basic necessities to the migrant workers. He said the SC must be circumspect in entertaining such PILs filed by activists from the luxury of their homes and without contributing anything to the national fight to contain spread of Covid-19.

SG said that he was not against genuine PILs. But these petitioners have neither worked shoulder to shoulder with the doctors and heath providers, who are risking their lives in treating Covid-19 patients, nor have they visited the migrant workers' shelters to provide them with food. He said, there are many genuine NGOs who have worked on ground to assist doctors and health care staff as well as assisting the authorities in reaching food and basic amenities to poor and destitute during the lockdown period. SC asked the Centre to file status report by April 7.

The petitioners claimed that sudden and ill-planned lockdown led to massive exodus of migrant workers and disrupted their ability to earn livelihood. It may be recalled that the SC bench of CJI S A Bobde and Justice Rao on Tuesday had accepted the Centre's contention that fake news about three month lockdown had caused the exodus of migrant workers. It had directed the Centre and state governments to ensure supply of food and shelter to all the migrant workers and poor as well as destitute.

"Direct the central and state governments to jointly and severally ensure payments of wages/ minimum wages to all the migrant workers within a week, whether employed by other establishments, contractors or self-employed, as they are unable to work and earn wages, during the period of the lockdown," they said.

In another prayer, the petitioners sought a direction to the governments "to immediately activate National and State Advisory Committees of experts in the field of disaster management and public health and prepare national and state disaster management plans for dealing with the COVID epidemic, taking into account all relevant aspects, mitigation measure, their possible costs and consequences Disaster Management Act, 2005."

