HC to Union: Reply to petition for safety of cine workers, technicians

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked the state and Union government to file their affidavits pertaining to the petition for safety and security of cine workers and technicians. The petitioner, which is a NGO, said that these people work in horrible conditions and get no beneficial policies. The state government tried to shirk its responsibilities but the HC directed it to file an affidavit within three weeks.

A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar was hearing the petition filed by the association, raising the issue of safety and health of stuntmen and other technical and professional artistes working in cinema and television. The petition stated that these employees did not even get provident fund and thousands of workers and technicians who slogged long uninterrupted hours deserved access to social security systems and the highest attainable standards of health.

This week during the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer pointed out fire incidents which had occurred in film and television studios and demonstrated the seriousness of the issue and informed the court that the petition had been filed in 2015 and ever since, no reply had been filed by the state government.

Assistant public prosecutor Nisha Mehra argued that The Cinema and Theatre Workers Act 1984 existed in the country and it was a central law which is why the state government could not do anything in the petition. She suggested that the petitioner needed to make the Centre a respondent in the petition and seek explanation.