The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre and the State government who will cover the costs of travel and medical screening of migrant workers who want to return home to other States.

A single-judge Bench of Justice S.C. Gupte was hearing two public interest litigations (PILs) filed by the NGOs Sarva Hara Jan Andolan and Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan. The PILs relate to redressal of grievances of migrant labourers in Maharashtra following the lockdown.

The advocate appearing for the NGOs told the court that the Congress had announced that governments in States where it is in power will cover the costs for migrants. Soon thereafter, the Centre said it will bear 85% of the cost and the respective State will have to pay 15%.

The Bench said the Central and State governments need to coordinate and clarify to the court on Friday as to who will pay for the migrants and how they plan to do it. The court also directed the State counsel to get a response on who will pay for the medical screening of all the migrants.

In the last hearing, senior advocate Gayatri Singh, representing the NGOs, said despite various advisories issued by the Central and State governments and several schemes being in place, the State authorities are not implementing them and the benefits are not reaching migrant labourers and homeless people.

The court had then said, “Under the scheme, the State Legal Services Authorities are required to coordinate the implementation of the plan of action prepared by the Disaster Management Authorities and supervise the transfer of victims of disaster to shelters as well as the distribution of food, drinking water, medicines and healthcare. The District Legal Services Authorities can play an effective role by coordinating the activities of the State authorities.”