SC postpones opening of creche due to filing of petition

The Supreme Court has postponed the opening of a creche in its premises, slated for inauguration today, due to filing of a petition pointing out various deficiencies in the Child Care Centre.
A circular by the apex court registrar (administration general) said opening of the daycare centre stands postponed awaiting the result of a petition filed by a woman lawyer.
"It is hereby notified to all the concerned that in view of filing of the writ petition titled as Anindita Pujari vs Supreme Court of India and others before this court on June 29, 2015, the opening and functioning of the Child Care Centre (Creche) in the Supreme Court from July 1, 2015 stand postponed awaiting the result of the said writ petition," the circular said.

Petitioner Anindita Pujari, in her petition, has sought direction to set up an "effective" creche that would serve the purpose and prevent exclusion of women from fully exercising their fundamental right to practice the profession of law.
The apex court has already established a creche in the new lawyers' chamber building which was to be operational from today.
The petitioner also challenged the validity of the June 10 notice, whereby the court had invited applications for the post of in-charge as well as helper for the creche.

It pointed out that the salary indicated for the post of helper is Rs 6,000 only, whereas the minimum wages in Delhi are Rs 9,048 for unskilled workers and more for semi-skilled and skilled labourers.

The plea termed fixing of children's age between six months to two years as unreasonable and added that if the provision for a daycare centre was to be made effective, it should cater to the needs of children upto six years who require early childhood care.
It also challenged limiting the number of children to only 10 and fixing the last date of admission as June 23 saying it was "highly arbitrary, and discriminatory and were violative of the principle of equality".