The Allahabad High Court has expressed concern over the deployment of an all-female workforce for the maintenance of men’s public toilets in a Raebareli village, terming the arrangement as inconsistent with any sanctioned policy or scheme.
The observation came during a hearing before the Lucknow bench of Justices A.R. Masoodi and A.K. Srivastava in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Jamuna Prasad, who raised issues regarding the construction and maintenance of public toilets in Jeyona village under the Maharajganj block.
Responding to previous court directions, the village head appeared before the bench and stated that under the Swachh Bharat Mission, a common toilet complex had been constructed with three toilets each for men and women. The maintenance, he added, was being handled by a self-help group comprising 12 women, formed under the Rural Livelihood Mission.
When asked specifically about the upkeep of toilets for men, the village head confirmed that the same all-women self-help group had been managing the maintenance duties for over a year.
This prompted the court to question the appropriateness of such an arrangement, remarking, “Maintenance of toilets used by men through a female workforce does not seem to be in line with any scheme evolved by the gram panchayat, which enjoys exclusive control of maintenance.”
The bench directed the concerned village head to file a detailed counter-affidavit and ordered his personal appearance on the next date of hearing, scheduled for May 22.
