INDORE: Around 40% of lower court campuses including district courts are struggling to have basic amenities like urinals, separate toilets for females and drinking water facilities, say bar members.
"There are around 283 court premises in the state. Of those, 40% are without facilities like urinals, separate female toilets, and drinking water facilities", said Treasurer State bar committee Advocate Rashmiritu Jain. The conditions of rest 60% court premises in the state are also not very good. The facilities are insufficient and are in bad shape because of ill maintenance, said advocate Jain.
The bar associations have tried to maintain these facilities, but these proved to be insufficient because of the high inflow of people on campuses. The bar struggles to maintain these facilities operationalised by them due to lack of funds, said advocate Jain.
State bar chairman Vijay Choudhary was asked about conditions of district court he told TOI, "There are around 20 district court campuses in the state without these basic amenities including separate toilets for females, hygienic drinking water facilities and medical aid."
"The conditions are very poor in all court campuses across the state. The lawyers have to struggle right from getting proper sitting space to finding toilets, drinking water and other basic amenities", said advocate Amar Rathore, Vice President Indore high court bar association.
The facilities are insufficient even in big cities like Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur court campuses also. But the government isn't paying heed towards improving it, said advocate Rathore.
A senior official posted to the law department requesting anonymity told TOI, "There are around 40% or more court campuses lacking these basic amenities. But, in the last couple of years, many new court campuses were constructed to improve the infrastructure in the state." The construction of new court campuses was done on the basis of guidelines of the Supreme court mandating basic amenities. The new district court campuses are undergoing construction in Indore, Rewa, Gwalior, along with tehsil level courts, said the official.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana had raised the issue of courts operating from "dilapidated structures, without proper facilities" at a programme.
