NEW DELHI: Women Lawyers’ Association of Nilgiris informed the Supreme Court on Monday that their grievance regarding the lack of proper facilities including the availability of washrooms in the Nilgiris court complex, Tamil Nadu, has been addressed as they were exclusively allotted two rooms and a toilet for use.
A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal, apart from taking note of the association’s submission, also took note of the detailed report submitted by the Registrar General of Madras HC and thus posted the plea for July.
“As of now the petitioners do not have any grievance, let the matter be listed before the appropriate bench in the first week of July,” the court said in its order. On Friday, SC had noted that the June 6 report which was filed by the HC after an order passed by the CJI-led bench was not comprehensive.
SC, in its order, had said, “The report of the Registrar General, High Court of Madras, however, does not explain in detail in what manner the facilities for women lawyers were being provided for in the new court complex and as to whether there was any shrinkage of any basic facility or amenity in the new court complex. Let a more detailed report be filed by the Registrar General of the Madras High Court.”
The order was passed in a plea that was taken by the court on its own motion after taking note of the June 6 report and a column in a news portal carrying the headline, “These women lawyers of Nilgiris have been demanding toilets in court complex for 25 years.”
Notably, a bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud on April 28, 2023, while considering a plea raising grievances of women lawyers practising in the combined Nilgiris court complex, had disposed of the plea after taking note of the fact that necessary steps were taken by the HC. “If the petitioner has any subsisting grievance, it would be at liberty to either move the District Judge or, as the case may be, the Registrar General of the HC,” the order had said.