CHENNAI : Shocked by the poor maintenance of public conveniences in Chennai, the Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Corporation to auction and hand them over to the highest bidder, by following the mandatory procedures.

Laying down elaborate guidelines on maintenance of the utilities, besides the job status and pay scale of the employees, a Division Bench comprising Justice Dharmarao Elipe and Justice S. Palanivelu said the Corporation must immediately take possession and maintenance of all public conveniences, excluding the ones under the control of court-appointed Advocate-Commissioners.

After tenders are finalised, the civic authorities should hand over possession of the utilities to the highest bidders, following procedures contemplated under law.

The Judges also directed the Corporation Commissioner to frame a scheme regarding the requests of the employees. They had sought reasonable service conditions, such as fixed working hours, dearness allowance, weekly, national and festival holidays and payment of bonus, besides protective gears and uniforms.

Clarifying that the prospective contractors would have only supervisory powers over the employees, the Judges said provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, the Minimum Wages Act and other similar enactments should form part of the tender conditions.

Referring to an order, dated February 26, 2006, wherein the Government fixed a pay scale for sanitary workers recruited through employment exchanges and were receiving consolidated payment from the Corporation, the Judges said such pay scale could be extended to employees in public conveniences as they were also discharging similar functions.

The Judges also directed Sulabh International, which was running the public conveniences before its contract was terminated by the Government in 1999, and the Advocate-Commissioners to furnish accounts regarding the utilities to the Corporation Commissioner.

The Bench also came down heavily on Sulabh International, saying the forum was "minting money under the cloth of `service,'" and that too by using the public money through the Corporation.

The Bench also flayed the Corporation for having failed to prevent anti-social elements and musclemen from grabbing the public conveniences.

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