HYDERABAD: A bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the State government to file its response in a taken-up PIL regarding one broken toilet for 700 girl students in the Government Junior College, Saroornagar.
Issuing notices to the State government (represented by the Chief Secretary), Principal Secretary of Education, Commissioner of Intermediate Education, and the college principal, the bench, comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji, adjourned the hearing to April 25, 2023.
On December 31, 2022, Nallapu Manideep, a law student, sent the Chief Justice a letter along with a clipping of a news report “Protest erupts as Government Junior College has 1 defunct toilet for 700 females”. The letter was converted into a PIL by the PIL Committee.
The news report revealed that there was only one toilet for over 700 girl students and other infrastructure on the campus was extremely poor; the demands of the students for immediate relief had fallen on deaf ears; the washrooms were extremely dirty and infections were commonplace.
The girl students also complained about not being able to attend college during their menstrual periods since there are no taps or running water. The male students also claimed that they did not have bathrooms and had to walk outside to use urinals, resorting to open urinating because the toilets were in disrepair.
The report also said that about 300 students of the college boycotted classes due to substandard campus amenities and other infrastructural facilities being in extremely poor condition. Several students were using pills to interrupt their menstrual cycles, and some were not even drinking water, it said.
It is also claimed that despite the students expressing their concern for three months, no action was taken by the authorities. It also mentioned that the petitioner filed complaints to the Human Rights Commission, but to no avail.
In his letter, the law student urged the Chief Justice to direct the authorities to provide all essential amenities at the Government Junior College, Saroornagar.