Calling an empty shell of a room 'toilet' without providing users any of the required facilities does not make it a “toilet in reality”, the Supreme Court declared on Tuesday.
A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C. Pant made the observation in a written order stressing the need for clean and safe toilets for girls in schools.
The court pointed to how authorities build a certain “structure”, christen it 'toilet' and then forget about it from their memory.
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“It can be said without any fear of contradiction that a toilet in structure only is not a toilet in reality,” the Bench observed in its three-page order.
“Toilets meant for schools, which are co-educational and the girls' schools have to have such toilets which are clean and acceptable having proper facilities,” the order read.
The court passed the order while perusing a report submitted by its own committee, which conducted a survey of school toilets in two States – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The report was scathing on the state of toilet facilities, especially for girl students.
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This continues to be the state of affairs in both States despite an earlier direction from the apex court to frame schemes in this regard. The court's orders and this hearing was based on a petition filed by J.K. Raju in 2013, highlighting the plight of girl students in the two States.
“It has to be borne in mind by the authorities of the two States that clean and safe toilets also help in sustaining the health conditions of the students,” the Bench observed.
The court's order gains significance as the Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech had urged the importance of separate and clean toilets for girls. He had said that by next year, every school should have toilets for girls and boys.
The court ordered Secretary, School Education Department, of both States to be personally present in court on March 10, 2015. It further ordered the scheme to be framed and filed in the apex court within the next four weeks.