Hygienic public toilets are part of the right to life, the Delhi High Court has said, and it now wants social work students to make surprise checks on the facilities run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
New Delhi: Saying that the right to access hygienic public toilets includes the right to life, the Delhi High Court has proposed that teams of male and female students from three social work colleges carry out surprise inspections of public toilets in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) area and report to the civic body’s sanitation chief, with officers to be held answerable for repeated defaults [Jan Seva Welfare Society (Regd) v. Union of India and Others].
A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma passed the order on October 16, 2026 in W.P.(C) 2088/2023, a petition that has kept the condition of the city’s public toilets before the Court since 2023. The matter will be heard next on November 2, 2026.
How the case reached here
The Bench recorded that the petitioner society approached the Court over the violation of this right, and that it has been passing orders since 2023 on steps to improve, maintain and keep hygienic the city’s public toilets. The MCD placed a status report before the Court, which was yet to be taken on record. The grievances being pressed fall under three heads: structural maintenance of the toilets, their hygiene and cleanliness, and ensuring they are available in sufficient numbers for the population served.
The Court noted that the MCD area is divided into 12 zones, each headed by a Deputy Commissioner, with a Chief Engineer (Logistics) providing infrastructural and logistical support and the final authority for sanitation and maintenance of public toilets vesting in the Additional Commissioner. Counsel for the MCD said the civic body first tried geotagging the sanitation facilities on its own and later, in two zones, took the help of an institution in Chennai on a pilot basis, with results claimed to be satisfactory.
The right and the duty
The Bench opened by placing the issue in constitutional terms:
“Apart from the obligations imposed under the Directive Principles of State Policy enshrined in the Constitution, the right to access hygienic public toilets includes Right to Life.”
It acknowledged the efforts being made but said the results had not satisfied the Court, which is why complaints keep returning to it. The Bench was clear about whose job it is:
“Be that as it may, what is expected of the respondent is to discharge their statutory duty under the statute, not only to provide public toilets but also to ensure hygiene.”
Why students, and what they would do
The Court said it was not for it to supervise the day-to-day working of the civic body, so it proposed a mechanism “just to have a check”. It named three institutions: the Delhi School of Social Work (now the Department of Social Work) of the University of Delhi, the Jamia Millia Islamia College of Social Work, and Aditi Mahavidyalaya, also under the University of Delhi. Their heads were requested to spare teams of male and female students for surprise inspections.
After each inspection, the team is to report on the condition of the toilets, with photographs, to the Additional Commissioner in charge of sanitation. On those reports the Additional Commissioner must initiate appropriate steps and, where a default is found, hold the Deputy Commissioner of the concerned zone answerable. Each team member is to receive an honorarium, which the Court said should be meant to meet conveyance, photography and other incidental costs.
A rider for repeated defaults
The Bench added a warning. If consecutive defaults are noticed in the structural maintenance and hygiene of public toilets in a zone, the MCD must indicate what action is proposed against the Deputy Commissioner of that zone, and against the Chief Engineer responsible for logistic and other support. It also cautioned the MCD officers that the Court would take serious note of any failure to give financial support to the project.
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Next steps
The Court asked the Director or Principal of the Delhi School of Social Work to speak to the heads of the other two colleges and respond by November 2, 2026, and requested the MCD’s standing counsel, Manu Chaturvedi, to convey the order to them. It also wants a response from the Additional Commissioner (Sanitation) by the same date, after which it will pass appropriate orders. The matter is listed on November 2, 2026.
Why the order matters
The order ties a day-to-day civic service, clean toilets, to the right to life, which shifts the question from a matter of convenience to one of constitutional entitlement. It also shows a court looking for a way to monitor compliance without taking over administration, by borrowing independent, trained observers from university social work departments.
The proposal is so far a request to the institutions and is subject to their responses and to further orders. What it signals to the MCD, though, is that hygiene lapses in individual zones can now be traced to named senior officers.
Case Title: Jan Seva Welfare Society (Regd) v. Union of India and Others [W.P.(C) 2088/2023]
Bench: Acting Chief Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Sanjay Sharma, Delhi High Court
Date of Order: October 16, 2026
Appearances: Standing Counsel Manu Chaturvedi with Additional Commissioner (DEMS) Arun Mishra for the MCD; Advocates Tushar Sannu and Parvin Bansal for DJB and NDMC; Central Government Standing Counsel Jagdish Chandra with Advocate Maanya Saxena for the Union of India