Toilets in Courts Under Article 21: Rajeeb Kalita (2025)

Access to Sanitation in Courts Is a Fundamental Right: Supreme Court Directs Separate Toilets in All Court Premises

Published: 21 October 2026 · NyayVidhan

The Supreme Court held that toilets are a basic necessity and a facet of human rights, and that access to proper sanitation is a fundamental right under Article 21. Finding court washrooms across the country inadequate, especially in District Courts, it directed separate toilets for men, women, persons with disabilities and transgender persons in all court premises and tribunals, committees in every High Court, State funding, and status reports within four months (paras 9-11).

Key holdings

Access to proper sanitation is a fundamental right under Article 21 (para 10).

Separate toilets for males, females, PwD and transgender persons must be provided in all court premises and tribunals (para 11).

Each High Court must set up a committee, chaired by a Judge, within six weeks to plan and monitor facilities (para 11).

The committees must ensure surveys, maintenance, sanitary pad dispensers, nodal officers and complaint systems (para 11).

States and Union Territories must allocate sufficient funds, and status reports are due within four months (para 11).

Case explainer by NyayVidhan: an account of this judgment and the law it laid down, not the court's text. The judgment itself is the authoritative version.

Brief Facts

An advocate practising in the north-eastern States filed a public interest writ petition under Article 32 seeking a mandamus that all States and Union Territories provide and maintain toilets in every court and tribunal for men, women, persons with disabilities and transgender persons (paras 2-3). He relied on Article 21, Articles 47 and 48A and the Swachh Bharat Mission (paras 3-5). By an order of 08.05.2023 the Court directed all High Courts to file affidavits on available toilets, their maintenance, separate facilities and sanitary napkin dispensers, and they did so (para 7).

Court's Findings

The Court set out Articles 21, 47 and 48A, the transgender persons' law and international instruments, and recalled Vincent Panikurlangara, Amarnath Shrine and NALSA on health, hygiene and separate toilets for transgender persons (para 8). It concluded that the right to life includes a healthy and hygienic life with dignity, that public toilets protect the privacy of women and transgender persons, and that the need is acute in courts where people spend long hours (para 8). The responses showed few toilets for transgender persons, no reliable data on facilities for persons with disabilities or lady judicial officers, and no transparency on funds (para 9). Many courts had old, unusable toilets, and District Courts were in the worst condition (para 9). Toilets are a basic necessity and a facet of human rights, and access to justice requires a humane atmosphere for all stakeholders (para 10). In some instances even judges, particularly in rural areas, lack proper washrooms, which reflects a deeper flaw in the justice system; the absence of adequate washrooms undermines equality (para 10).

Legal Principle

Access to proper sanitation is part of the right to life under Article 21, and the State has a duty under Part IV to secure a healthy environment; court premises must therefore have adequate, maintained and accessible washrooms for judges, advocates, litigants and staff of every gender and for persons with disabilities (paras 8, 10).

Precedents Relied Upon

Vincent Panikurlangara v. Union of India (1987) 2 SCC 165
Relied Upon Discussed at ¶ 8
Maintaining and improving public health is a top-priority obligation of the welfare State.
In Re. Amarnath Shrine v. Union of India (2013) 3 SCC 247
Relied Upon Discussed at ¶ 8
The right to life under Article 21 includes hygienic conditions in the workplace and a better standard of living.
Common Cause (A Registered Society) v. Union of India (1999) 6 SCC 667
Referred To Discussed at ¶ 8
The right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and the bare necessities of life.

View all precedents (5)

National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014) 5 SCC 438
Relied Upon Discussed at ¶ 8
Governments must provide transgender persons separate public toilets; their absence exposes them to harassment.
Re: Dignity, Respect & Honour of Girls and Women Order dated 03.12.2024 in C.W.No.18518/2024 (suo motu writ petition)
Referred To Discussed at ¶ 8
The Rajasthan High Court noted the health harm to women from a lack of clean toilets and issued directions.

Statutory Provisions