Send migrants home within 15 days: SC to Centre, states -Top court also orders formulating employment schemes after conducting skill mapping for workers' rehabitilation

A man dozes off as migrant workers from West Bengal wait after queueing up overnight on a roadside pavement to register for home bound trains in Kochi, Wednesday, June 3, 2020.AP

PTI, 9.06.20, New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and state governments to send all the migrant workers to their native places within 15 days and formulate employment schemes after conducting their skill mapping to rehabilitate them.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.R. Shah also directed the Centre to provide additional trains within 24 hours of states making the demand for sending the migrant workers back to their native places.

The top court also directed authorities to consider withdrawing all cases against migrant workers for alleged violation of lockdown norms under the Disaster Management Act.

The bench also directed the authorities to identify and register migrant workers who want to go back to their native places and conclude the exercise, including their transportation within 15 days from Tuesday.

The bench, which posted the matter for further hearing in July, said the schemes for welfare and employment of migrant workers should be publicised adequately.

The top court had on June 5 reserved its order on the suo motu case registered on the plights of migrant workers during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown period.