Supreme Court Grants Last Chance To HCs For Compliance Report On Directions For Toilets For Women, Disabled & Transgender Persons

The Supreme Court on July 16 gave one last opportunity to the high courts to file a compliance report in the January 15 judgment, wherein it issued a set of directions for the construction of toilet facilities especially for women, specially-abled persons and transgender persons in Court premises and tribunals across the country.A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan pronounced the judgment in a writ petition filed by Rajeeb Kalita in 2023. Today, the matter has come up regarding the status of compliance with the directions. The high courts which have filed a compliance report are: Chhattisgarh High Court, Calcutta High Court, Sikkim High Court, Patna High Court, Madhya Pradesh High Court, Allahabad High Court, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, High Court of Punjab and Haryana, High Court of Kerala, High Court of Delhi and High Court of Gujarat. Since many high courts are yet to file the compliance report, the court gave a last opportunity to file the report within 8 weeks. Failure of the same would result in seeking the personal presence of the Registrar General of the respective high courts for explanation. The following directions were passed in the judgment authored by Justice Mahadevan:(i) The High Courts and the State Governments / UTs shall ensure the construction and availability of separate toilet facilities for males, females, PwD, and transgender persons in all Court premises and Tribunals across the Country.(ii) The High Courts shall oversee and ensure that these facilities are clearly identifiable and accessible to Judges, advocates, litigants, and court staff.(iii) For the aforesaid purpose, a committee shall be constituted in each of the High Courts under the chairmanship of a Judge nominated by the Chief Justice and members comprising the Registrar General/Registrar of the High Court, the Chief Secretary, the PWD Secretary and the Finance Secretary of the State, a representative of the Bar Association and any other officers as they deem it fit, within a period of six weeks.(iv) The committee shall formulate a comprehensive plan, carry out the following tasks, and ensure its implementation.(a) have a statistic of number of persons visiting the courts every day on an average and ensure that sufficient separate washrooms are built and maintained.(b) conduct a survey regarding the availability of toilet facilities, lacunae in the infrastructure and maintenance of the same. Demarcate existing washrooms and assess the need to convert existing washrooms to meet the requirement of above categories.Also Read - Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna Joins Himachal Pradesh National Law University As Distinguished Professor(c) provide alternate facilities like mobile toilets, during construction of new ones, environment friendly toilets (bio-toilets) across the courts as done in Railways.(d) Qua women, transgender persons, PwD, provide clear signage and indications along with functional amenities, such as, water, electricity, operational flushes, provision of hand soap, napkins, toilet paper and up to date plumbing systems. Specifically, for PwD washrooms, ensure the installation of ramps and that washrooms are designed to accommodate them.(e) conduct a study about maintaining architectural integrity in respect of Heritage Court buildings such as Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, etc. To work with the existing facilities by using underutilised spaces to build washrooms, modular solutions to work around the old plumbing systems, engaging professionals to assess the solutions to modernise sanitation facilities.(f) effectuate a mandatory cleaning schedule and ensure staffing for maintenance and upkeeping dry bathroom floors along with sensitizing users on clean washroom practices.(g) ensure regular maintenance of the toilets by outsourcing professional agencies on contract basis, by employing modern cleaning methods and machinery to ensure better hygiene and usability.(h) put in place a mechanism that mandates the periodic inspection of the functionality of these washrooms and specific compliance reports to be filed to a person in-charge.(i) frame a complaint / redressal system for speedy reporting of defective washrooms and instant repair of the same.(j) ensure that there are working and stocked sanitary pad dispensers in women, PwD, and transgender washrooms.(k) nominate or appoint a person specifically in each premises of the High Court/District Court/ Civil Court/Tribunal as nodal officer to monitor the maintenance, address the complaints and communicate with the presiding officer or the appropriate committee; such authority should address the complaints and give standing instructions in writing regarding maintenance and working of the said toilets; and the responsibilities should be fixed.(l) have a transparent and separate monetary fund for the construction and maintenance of toilets in court complexes.(m) have child safe washrooms in Family court complexes with trained staff equipped to ...

Supreme Court Grants Last Chance To HCs For Compliance Report On Directions For Toilets For Women, Disabled & Transgender Persons

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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