Wondering how States and Union Territories had absolved from their fundamental duty to provide clean drinking water to children in schools all these years, an anguished Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma noted, “Drinking water is a priority under the right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 20 and 21 of Constitution. No school can afford not to provide this facility.”
Taking stock, the Bench found that while several States had complied with substantially, there were gaps reported in some parts or districts, which annoyed them. Looking into the seriousness of the issue, the Bench had on August 9, 2011 directed all Chief Secretaries to personally file affidavits of compliance.
The anguish of the court arose after it perused the affidavits filed by Andhra Pradesh, where there was a gap of 9,280 schools still to receive drinking water, followed by 7,000-odd schools in Assam, 6,000-odd schools in Uttar Pradesh, 2,963 schools in Karnataka, 77 schools in Kerala, 33 schools in Haryana and the entire district of Darjeeling in West Bengal, along with certain parts of Jammu & Kashmir.
Commenting on the sad state of affairs — where even water facility was not made available for over six decades since Independence — the Bench noted, “If you do not provide the facilities, these schools are as good as closed.”
The Bench fixed the matter for October 18 and said, “We do not want any State or UT to say on the next date that water is not provided yet.”
The court even shared its concern with state counsels on the availability of toilets in Government schools. “Where there are no toilets for girls, parents do not send their daughters to school and this impacts education,” the bench said, directing that till permanent drinking water and toilet facilities are put in place, temporary arrangements be made by October 15.
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