HC grants 3 more months to PWD for building toilets in courts

The Madras High Court today granted three more months to the Public Works department to construct toilets in district courts across the state.
Passing an interim order on a PIL, the court directed the department to submit a status report on the construction to Member Secretary of Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan in its order said, "We find that there is considerable progress to be made on account of the own report of the PWD.
"Not only are those mere constructions made of toilets but their continued maintenance. A comprehensive report submitted by the TNSLA should form basis for completing all activities."

The matter pertains to a PIL by advocate Vengai I Prakash, seeking a direction to the court's Registrar General besides Law and PWD secretaries of the state government, to take necessary steps for the upkeep of toilets in the courts throughout the state.
The petitioner had submitted that toilets in the court premises, meant for use by advocates and the public, were unused and unhygienic due to a lack of cleaning by the staff.

Following the directions issued on June 3, PWD officials carried out inspections through their regional executive engineers and submitted the counter affidavit stating that there was a requirement of 320 new toilets in 31 districts barring Chennai District.

The bench said, "We are of the view that no further directions are required in the writ petition except to monitor the progress as according to the PWD six months were required to complete the task. We do believe that such an endeavour would be in furtherance of 'Swachh Bharat' for providing toilet facilities."
The bench directed the PWD to file a compliance report and adjourned the matter to November 18.