The Supreme Court on Friday pressed States and Union Territories to improve basic infrastructure for women advocates in courts, observing that the lack of functional washrooms and Ladies’ Bar Rooms cannot be justified on financial grounds. The Court also continued deliberations on creating a Young Advocates Corpus Fund to financially support lawyers during the initial years of practice.
Hearing the public interest litigation, the Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana noted that the issue extends beyond women advocates to the overall condition of court infrastructure, while emphasizing that access to clean and usable sanitation facilities is a basic necessity.
Appearing in the matter, the Attorney General R Venkatramani informed the Court that he proposed to convene a meeting with all Advocate Generals to evolve a common framework for the proposed corpus fund, keeping in mind that States may have different practical and financial considerations.
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“I thought I will convene a meeting of all the Advocate Generals… We’ll try to pick up some trends and the minimum denominator that can be applicable to all States.”
Counsel appearing for an intervenor from Karnataka submitted that the problem extended to several taluk courts where even basic facilities such as toilets and washrooms were unavailable. It was argued that the absence of functional sanitation facilities was adversely affecting the health of women advocates. The Bench agreed that merely having washrooms on paper was insufficient.
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“It’s not just whether there are washrooms, it’s even if they are workable and usable. That defence of financial constraints cannot be accepted… that logic will not work with us. We don’t mind if you impose an extra tax, an excise duty, your liquor sale or your tobacco sale… even a social media cess (in a lighter vein).”
The Court appreciated the State of Gujarat for filing a comprehensive affidavit covering infrastructure across all its revenue districts and observed that if one State could complete the exercise within four weeks, the remaining States should also be able to do so within a similar timeframe.
The Bench also directed every State to file affidavits indicating that work on infrastructure had commenced in subordinate courts and suggested that they submit photographs or videos of the ongoing construction through pen drives to enable the Court to monitor compliance.
During the hearing, the Court referred to Telangana’s welfare initiatives for young advocates and noted that such measures could serve as useful models while the proposed national corpus fund is being formulated. The Bench reiterated that the objective was to enable young entrants to the legal profession to sustain themselves during the first six to seven years of practice before they become financially independent.