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News Bulletin

Human Rights Protection Foundation, Udupi



Bulletin No. 5
Web address: http://hrpfudupi.hpage.co.in

Dear Readers,
I believe not many of you would know the classic case of
how the high-handedness of a few officials has affected
the lives of two illiterate women in Udupi.
The two women, Akku and Leela, have put in about four decades of service as scavengers at the
Government Women Teachers Training Institute on a monthly salary of Rs. 15/-.
When they joined the institute in 1971, they were told they would be paid a basic salary of Rs.15/-
a month until the government officially approved their appointments and then they would receive
their full pay backdated to the day they joined.
Even after a year, they had still not had their jobs officially approved. They wanted to quit.
The principal pleaded with them to stay and promised they would receive more than Rs. 30,000 as
back wages and they would be appointed on a permanent basis. He warned them that they would
lose this if they resigned. The women continued cleaning the lavatories.
Their plight came to light after Dr. Ravindranath Shanbhag, President of Udupi-based Hu-
man Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), took up the matter and created public opinion against
this injustice.
In 1999 with the help of HRPF, the women approached the Karnataka Administrative Tri-
bunal (KAT) seeking relief. As a result, the Education Department stopped paying them even that
meager salary of Rs. 15/-.
Now, after 14 years of legal battle, the women have three judgments including Karnataka
High Court and the Supreme Court in their favor. Every court has asked the government to pay
them their due right from 1971 till their retirement.
Since the government has not paid their salary, the ladies have approached the Supreme
Court with Contempt of Court Petition.
Before you watch the story live on Spandana Channel at 8:00 pm on Thursday 8th Au-
gust 2013, read the attached articles published so far.
Regards,
Nivedita, Editor, HRPF NEws Bulletin
Human Rights Protection Foundation, Udupi.
First Floor,
Vaikunta Baliga College of Law,
Kunjibettu Udupi- 576 102
H R P F Bulletin 5
The Epic tale of Akku and Leela
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Web address: http://hrpfudupi.hpage.co.in
The judicial system and bureaucracy
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India K G Balakrishnan made a very
valid point recently when he said that even as the courts of India hearing the largest
number of cases in the world zealously guard the rights and liberties of the people,
the arrears in cases were still on the rise. He did not mention figures but we have it
from the Global Corruption Report 2007 on Corruption in Judicial Systems that as
of February 2006 there were 33,635 cases pending in the Supreme Court with 26
judges, 3.34 lakh cases in the High Courts with 670 judges and 2.5 lakh cases in
13,304 subordinate courts.
According to the report, the ratio of judges in India is 12 to 13 per million peo-
ple compared to 107 in the United States, 75 in Canada and 51 in the United King-
dom. At the current rate of disposal of cases, it would take 350 years to dispose of
pending cases. So what is the answer? It would seem that some high courts have in-
troduced 'evening courts', 'mobile courts' and 'e-courts' to make justice accessible to
the remotest areas. As Justice Balakrishnan put it, 'it is imperative to introduce inno-
vative and creative solutions to tackle' the current situation. What are these 'creative'
solutions? If, for example, people belonging to the same caste have a Caste Court,
can the caste chieftains or leaders serve to settle disputes among the litigants? Would
the legal system accept the rulings of Caste Courts as just and equitable? If reports
are to be believed, such courts have sprung up in recent times and are rendering sig-
nal service to the people. There is, e g Human Rights Protection Foundation of
Udupi and the Consumer Forum of Basroor which have in the last 27 years tackled
23,000 cases without charging a rupee, nor accepting any grant from either the Kar-
nataka or Union government. These two bodies are examples of reducing the burden
on the judiciary. That apart, what is shocking is that many of the cases are trivial and
do not need legal expertise for their quick resolution. All that is required is ordinary
common sense and a sense of fair play.
A recent case involving a woman 'scavenger' working for a Government Train-
ing School for Women in Karnataka makes it abundantly clear. This is the story. On
21 November 1929 the headmistress of the Training School appointed a sweeper
cum scavenger named Sesi on a monthly salary of six rupees. Sesi belonged to the
lowest of low castes. Some time in 1971 Sesi died and her daughter Akku ap-
proached the headmistress of the school for her mother's job. This was sanctioned on
12 July 1971. The wages were raised to fifteen rupees.
09 OCTOBER 2007
Source:- News Today
By M V KAMATH
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Web address: http://hrpfudupi.hpage.co.in
The approval appointment came six months after Akku joined duty but that doesn't
matter. A letter of the headmistress addressed to the Commissioner of Public Instruc-
tion, Bangalore, dated 19 September 1998 said that Akku and a fellow scavenger,
Leela - also appointed in June 1971 - were full-time employees and full-time work
was extracted from them. Leela's work consisted of cleaning 7 urinals and 5 latrines
seven days a week and Akku's work consisted of sweeping 21 classroom, also every
day of the year. Both the employees reportedly were supposed to fill in 'temporary
posts' with their wages paid from 'contingency funds'. In a letter to the Secretary of
the Department of Education, Karnataka, dated 4 November 1992 Akku mentioned
that she had been working for the past 20 years in a 'temporary post' and appealed
that the post be made permanent. Unbelievable but true, Departmental inquiries took
five long years to come to any conclusion! Eventually, on 9 July 1997, the Secretary
wrote to say that the posts held by both Akku and Leela 'cannot be made permanent'
- this after they had been working continuously for two decades! Time passed. Then
a strange thing happened. While both Akku and Leela continued to work their wages
were stopped as from 1 January 1998. Neither of the woman knew how to handle the
situation until the matter was raised by a human rights organisation with the Com-
missioner of Public Instruction (CPI) on 23 July 2003 when the headmistress of the
school requested the CPI to release wages due to the women amounting to Rs 1.16
lakh. The women thereupon appealed to the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal
(KAT) against the CPI which looked into the case and ordered regularisation of ser-
vices of the two scavenger-sweepers as a 'social ameliorative measure', specifying
that the order be obeyed within 90 days. CPI dithered. Akku thereupon made a rep-
resentation to the Education Department on 27 November 2003 to get the KAT order
implemented. Once again the government dithered and appealed to the Karnataka
High Court to dismiss the KAT order. On 4 October 2004 the High Court dismissed
the CPI appeal. Thereafter, shocking as it sounds, notice was issued to government
officers for not implementing the KAT order. At this point the government advocate,
M B Prabhakar wrote to the head of the Legal Cell, Department of Education, Ban-
galore, informing the latter that this was a 'fit case' to take to the Supreme Court. On
10 November 2004, the Karnataka government authorised a Supreme Court advo-
cate, Sanjay R Hegde to file a Special Leave Petition against the Karnataka High
Court's final Order at the Supreme Court.
Incidentally, it is now 2007 and the two women are still working without being
paid! Something of a record. There are no legal intricacies here. Both the women
have been and are full-time workers. And they have been working now for over
three decades, cleaning latrines and sweeping classroom floors. And they have not
been paid since 1998 or for nine long years. What sort of justice is this? If such in-
justice can be done to two poor illiterate women, what justice can one expect in
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more complicated cases pending in the courts - some 2.5 crore in all? Does anyone
care? In the case of these two women, a local human rights organisation took up
cudgels on their behalf but how many of the 2.5 crore cases can expect such help?
Does it require a Supreme Court intervention to do justice to two unhappy illiterate
women who have not been paid a single paise for nearly a decade? How are they ex-
pected to live? There are no answers. Does Justice Balakrishnan have any? The truth
is that our government departments are insensitive to human suffering. When a gov-
ernment is pulled up, his (or her) instinctive reaction is to appeal to a higher court.
There is no end to litigation. This is where the problem lies. The number of courts
may be increased at all level; the courts may sit for longer hours, even curtail their
holidays. But in the end the solution lies in changing the mind-set of people and
that's a job not for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court but for social reformers
and the media.

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The Hindu, Saturday 20, 2012
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2 Udupi women work for ` 15 a month for last 42 years!
10:47 AM, Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
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Here is a classic case that will reveal how the high-
handedness of a few officials has affected the lives of
two Dalit women in Udupi.
The two women, Akku and Leela, have put in about four
decades of service at the Government Women Teachers
Training Institute on a monthly salary of Rs. 15. Al-
though they were promised that their services would be
regularised, they did not get any benefits even after 42
years of service.
After the women approached the Karnataka Administra-
tive Tribunal (KAT) seeking relief in 2001, the Educa-
tion Department stopped paying them even that meagre salary of Rs. 15.
Their plight came to light after Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of Udupi-based Human Rights
Protection Foundation, took up the matter and followed up the case right up to the Supreme Court.
Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, Mr. Shanbhag said that although the Supreme Court,
the High Court of Karnataka and the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal ruled in favour of the
women and directed the government to regularise their services, the order is yet to be implemented
by the government.
Meanwhile, the women continue to clean the 21 toilets in the institute all through the year without
any payment, he said.
The Karnataka Administrative Tribunal asked the government in 2003 to regularise them in 90
days and the Karnataka High Court ordered the government to pay their salaries in 2004. Notices
were also issued for contempt of court when the directions were not implemented. Instead of pay-
ing them salaries, the government filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court in 2005.
The Supreme Court ruled in the womens favour in 2010. Despite all this, the women are still
waiting to get their benefits, Mr. Shanbhag said. Now, the authorities say that the women were
not employable because they had reached the retirement age. I am surprised that the government
spent lakhs of rupees on fighting the cases against the hapless women rather than pay what is due
to them.
Is there any other court above the Supreme Court that can give justice to these women? Mr.
Shanbhag asked and urged the government to pay what is due to the women.


In response to several readers' offers of help for Akku and Leela,
Dr.Ravindranath Shanbhag, the human rights activist who has been campaign-
ing for their cause, says these women do not want any charity. All they want is
for the government to pay them their due.

( The Hindu BANGALORE, October 4, 2012 )
Two women working for Rs. 15 a month for 42
years
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Earning a salary of Rs. 15 a month for their work as sweepers for over four decades, Akku and
Leela have never had it easy. But one thing they are never short on is self-respect.
The two women, cleaned toilets at the Government Women Teachers Training Institute, Udupi
for a monthly salary of Rs. 15 from 1971 to 2001. They still clean the 21 toilets in the institute
three times a day, but without pay as they had approached the court seeking justice regarding their
salary.
Following publication of their story in The Hindu, several readers from across the globe have
come forward to help them financially. But these women insist that they do not want charity. All
that we want is what is due to us. What our hard work all through the past 42 years deserves, Ms.
Akku toldThe Hindu.
Ms. Akku was employed as a sweeper at the institute in 1971 after her mother died. Ms. Leela,
too, joined as a sweeper the same year in her grandmothers place.
Both their appointments were approved by the Deputy Director of Public Instruction of Dakshina
AKKU AND LEELA CLEAN 21 TOI LETS IN AN INSTI TUTE THREE TIMES A DAY, BUT
WITHOUT PAY
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Kannada district in 1972 and their basic salary was fixed at Rs. 15 a month. We were promised
that our services would be regularised and salaries increased as per the government rules [the
Minimum Wages Act]. But the same salary continued for years. And that was also stopped after
we approached the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) for justice in 2001. From then till
now we have been working with the hope of getting the benefits that are due to us from the gov-
ernment, Ms. Akku said.
Udupi-based Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF) president Ravindranath Shanbhag,
who has been fighting for their cause, said although the Supreme Court, the Karnataka High Court
and the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) ruled in favour of the two women and directed
the government to regularise their services, the order is yet to be implemented. It is unfortunate
that the government spent lakhs of rupees on fighting the cases against the hapless women rather
than pay what is due to them, he said. Mr. Shanbhag said the women had high self esteem and
had refused help in the past too.
When some teachers from the institute gave them some money a few years ago, they refused to
accept it until they were allowed to return the favour by cleaning the toilets in the homes of the
teachers. While supporting their battle, HRPF has seen to it that their self-respect is not hurt, he
said.
Pointing out that both Ms. Akku and Ms. Leela have been fighting for justice since four decades,
Mr. Shanbhag said: The HRPF joined their fight only in 1998. When their Rs. 15 salary was
stopped and services terminated in 2001, we offered them financial and legal support. They flatly
refused the financial support but accepted the legal assistance with a condition that they would re-
turn the money spent by the Foundation once they get justice from the courts. We agreed, respect-
ing their spirit and self-respect.
Reacting to the issue, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri said
he had directed his officials to submit a report on the case within two weeks. It is an old case. I
will study the report and will ensure that the women get justice, he said.
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Dr. Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of the Human Rights Protection Foundation of Udupi, intro-
duced to the press Elizabeth and Padma, who have been underpaid for several years.
Elizabeth, who worked in Government Teachers Training School in Balmatta, Mangalore, for 43
years, and Padma, who worked in Fisheries Junior College for 42 years, were both paid a monthly
salary of only Rs. 15. The two women approached higher education authorities and requested them
to pay their full wages with interest from the day they received their appointment order. However,
the government officials have not responded so far.
Mr. Shanbhag said that the ladies are still working in the institutions, but are receiving no salary
because they are being considered retired. The government has not made any fresh appointment
either.
Citing the example of Akku and Leela, two other women who worked as scavengers in an educa-
tional institution for only Rs. 15 per month, he said that Akku and Leela had approached the then
CM B. S. Yeddyurappa after winning their case in Supreme Court. The chief minister had told
them that it is not possible to pay them, adding that, if the government paid them, it would have to
pay the other workers too.
Mr. Shanbhag said that there are around 300 underpaid workers like Akku, Leela, Elizabeth, and
Padma in Karnataka.
Two underpaid women demand full wages
Mangalore Today News Network
Mangalore, Oct 16, 2012:
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Working as sweepers to earn just Rs 15 a month for 40
years
MANGALORE: Elizabeth (68) and Padma Amin (55) worked for over 40 years as sweepers for a
meager salary of Rs 15 per month.
Udupi Human Rights Protection Foundation found that Elizabeth worked at the Government
Teachers Training School at Balmatta in Mangalore for 43 years from 1964 and Padma Amin
joined the Fisheries Junior College in 1970 and worked for 42 years. Both were offered only Rs 15
per month as salary.
The foundation had brought to light similar cases of Akku (60), a dalit woman, and Leela Sherigar
(59), who had been working for 42 years in Government Women Teachers' Training Institute at
Udupi for a meagre salary of Rs 15 a month.
Foundation president Ravindranath Shanbhag told TOI that since similar cases of Akku and Leela
were taken up in the past by the Foundation and they won the legal battle in the Supreme Court,
both Elizabeth and Padma have already approached the higher ups in the Education department
seeking full wages along with interest right from the day of appointment, which may be over Rs 25
lakh.
"We are pursuing the matter, but we have not received any response from the government officials
about payment to the ladies. The Foundation has documents to claim that Elizabeth had worked at
the government school till 1997. After that they have been asked to maintain separate attendance
sheets which we are yet to find out. For some time at the management of the school used to collect
money and pay them salaries," Shanbagh said.
"The foundation had taken up the case of Akku and Leela who worked as sweeper and scavenger
in the Government Women's Training Institute, Udupi for a basic salary of Rs 15 a month for more
than 40 years. Inspite of having three court judgements including that of the Supreme Court, they
were denied their hard earned money. Akku and Leela were cleaning the toilets, kitchen, class-
rooms and hostels only with the hopes that the government would make their appointment perma-
nent and reimburse their dues as per minimum wage criteria in lump sum. The Supreme Court ver-
dict is already 32 months old and the officials of Education department of the State are in no hurry
to obey the court order," Shanbhag said and alleged that there may be hundreds of such cases pre-
vailing
Vinobha K T, TNN Oct 17, 2012, 06.38PM IST
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Two Indian women apply to Guinness World Records for the
Lowest Salary in the World
Where would you need to go to find the Worlds lowest paid workers? Not far It is here, in India.
In a disgusting show of Indian Human Rights sham, two women, Akku and Leela Sherigar have
earned an average of 180 rupees or 2 a year and for the past 11 years they have worked for
free after a dispute with their employer. These Indian cleaners have been given just 64 after 40
YEARS of scrubbing toilets without a day off (and theyve never had a pay rise!)
For more than 40 years theyve meticulously toiled away, cleaning and scrubbing toilets in south-
ern India. Astonishingly, however, the two dedicated cleaners have only received to the tune of
only 64 EACH, for four decades of working their fingers to the bone.The two women, both aged
59, started working as toilet cleaners for the Governments Women Teachers Training Institute,
in South India, in 1971, for INR 15 a month as fresh-faced 18-year-olds. However, theyve not had
a single pay rise ever since, even though they have never missed a days work.
Even though they are angry, theyve now applied to the Guinness Book of World Records for the
title of the lowest salary in the world. Akku said that they were promised a pay rise every year
which never came. They trusted their employers to eventually pay them. They never believed itd
come to this moment. They both take pride in their work and could not give it up. They have al-
ways hoped that one day, they would get what they were promised.
In 2001, they finally decided that they have had enough and complained to
the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal, in Udupi, near Goa. Following this complaint, their wages
were stopped altogether with no mention of any reimbursements. But the dedicated women still
continued their work of cleaning 21 toilets, thrice a day, seven days a week.
For the last 11 years, they have worked for literally for free.
The president of the Human Rights Protection Foundation, Ravindranath Shanbhag, has taken up
their case, and has been helping them take their case to the Supreme Court of India.
Even though in 2003, the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal ordered the government to pay out,
no payment has been given to the women. The Karnatak High Court in 2004 and Supreme Court in
2010 also concluded that the Government should pay up, nothing has been done so far.
Akku and Leela are now praying that they will get what they deserved, with local support and
some help from the Indian press. They are due to retire next year and are hoping they are paid
along with the interest.
All we want is what is due to us, what our hard work through the past 42 years deserves, Akku
added.
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Thanks !!!
Please watch the story live on Spandana Channel at
8:00 pm on Thursday 8th August 2013,

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