The Supreme Court has been made aware that the prevailing unhygienic nature of the washrooms within the complex of courts throughout India is the equivalent of the breach of the basic rights and dignity of all court users, such as judges, advocates, litigants, and the staff. A comprehensive status report submitted on behalf of various high courts showed that it is not the remote or rural areas where the sanitation facilities are in poor conditions but also in major metropolitan high courts where systemic and administrative failures to maintain the facilities in proper states are exposed.
The report indicated that the current infrastructures of most court complexes do not match the requirements of the current day inclusive public facility. It observed that this negligence is an expression of failure to observe the duty of promoting public health and sanitation. Specifically, the report pointed at the lack of basic amenities to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), which the report overall denoted as a direct infringement of their rights to equality and non-discrimination under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act. A significant number of court buildings are reported to be missing some convenient features of design, like ramps, grab bars and even sufficient area of wheelchair turning, which renders the use of the building to be a disgrace to disabled persons.
The report also highlighted the lack of separate or gender-neutral washrooms by the members of the third-gender, indicating it as a form of denying them their basic rights as well as dignity. It also indicated that the absence of working crèche or childcare facilities in most courts limits the professional role of female advocates and court employees who are mothers to reinstate gender inequality in the legal profession.
The case is reported to be worst in subordinate courts whereby lack of infrastructure and proper maintenance has a direct effect on the working conditions, health and efficiency. The report encouraged decentralized and locally targeted action such as allocating of certain budgets, microlevel development strategies and community supervision as steps to guarantee the provision of clean water, plumbing and daily cleaning.
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