HC stays civic body's notice on free use of private toilets

The Bombay High Court today held that prime facie the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation did not have any powers to allow private toilets to be used by public in its bid to further the cause of the 'Swachh Bharat Mission'.
In an interim order, a division bench of justices A S Oka and Riyaz Iqbal Chagla stayed the noticeissued by the BMC on December 22, 2017 under which it had put up signboards stating that private toilets at retail petrol pumps or stations in Mumbai could be used by the public free of cost.
The court was hearing a writ petition filed by the Petrol Dealers Association, and owners of 12 petrol pumps from Mumbai, seeking that the notice be stayed and the signboards put up by the BMC be removed.

The bench added a proviso to its order and limited the relief to only the petitioners - the 12 petrol pump owners and the members of the Petrol Dealers Association.
Even the petitioners will have to give an undertaking that they will permit members of the general public to use such toilets in cases of emergency, the HC said.
The bench granted all other affected petrol pump owners/operators the liberty to approach the court if and when they seek the same relief.

There are about 300 petrol pumps in the city.
The BMC yesterday told the court that it had done so to furtherthe cause of the Centre's Swachh Bharat Mission.

"A meeting was held and the petitioners had allowed us to use these toilets for public purposes," the BMC said.
However, the petitioners submitted a copy of minutes of the said meeting to show that none of them had signed it.
The bench ruled that since the minutes had been signed only by the municipal officers, the petitioners were not bound by it.
It, however, noted that in a subsequent e-mail sent by the association's secretary to the BMC, the petrol pump body had consented to allow the use of such toilets by the general public free of cost only in cases of emergencies.

"The petitioners are bound by the e-mail and thus, will have to provide an undertaking pledging compliance," the bench said.
"Prima facie, we are of the view that the BMC has no power vested in it to declare in its own name, private toilets open to all members of the public," the bench said.
"The guidelines published under the Swachh Bharat Mission do not authorise the BMC to do so. Such an act on part of the BMC, thus, is illegal," the bench said.
It, therefore, directed the BMC to remove its signboards from the petrol pumps of the petitioners.