New Delhi, Jul 2 (PTI) A public interest petition (PIL) has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Centre and the Office of Labour Commissioner of Delhi to consider constituting a welfare board for home nurses and domestic workers.The petition, filed by NGO Distress Management Collective, said it was compelled to approach the high court on account of the “precarious scenario” and the manner in which this vulnerable class of women were being exploited.There is a dire need to constitute a welfare board for them at the pan-India level, it said.The petitioner stated that the pandemic brought to the fore the concerns of home nurses, and it has come across numerous grievances of home nurses and domestic workers who faced exploitation at the hands of placement agencies and employers."The petitioner organisation has been made to understand by the victims of exploitation that the home nurse recruitment agencies take commission every month from their hard-earned monthly salary. This practice of taking a share from the salary every month must be deprecated and put to a halt. Furthermore, home nurses are often made to work without break," the petition said.The plea concerns violation of Article 21, which includes the right to a safe working environment for women who hail from poor backgrounds, it said."Many are hired on the condition that they have to take care of a bedridden patient 24x7 and this harsh condition is accepted out of compulsion. Home nurses, due to the conditions put on them, have to leave their homes and live with the patient. It is due to this that the need to ensure the safety of a home nurse gains relevance," the petition added.It asserted that there is a dire need to conduct a survey to ascertain whether the agencies providing employment opportunities to home nurses and domestic workers in the city have the requisite registration/licence and that a committee should be constituted for examining their situation. PTI ADS IJT