The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Delhi government in a plea to restore facilities to dispense sanitary napkins for girl students in all government-run schools.
Notice was issued by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Sachin Datta, which asked the government to file its response within four weeks. The matter was listed for further hearing on July 6.
The Court was dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a civil rights group named Social Jurist through Advocates Ashok Agarwal and Kumar Utkarsh.
It was argued that the government was earlier providing this facility, but had discontinued the same in January 2021.
Advocate Santosh Kumar Tripathi, appearing for the Delhi government, informed the Court that the facility was discontinued because the previous tender has been cancelled.
He added that a fresh tender has been issued and that the facility will be restored by the start of the school session after the summer vacation.
The Bench, however, questioned how a welfare measure like this can stop just because the tender was cancelled.
“The mere absence of a running contract may not be a good enough reason to do away with a social measure. The GNCTD could evolve a policy to deal with the situation whenever the existing contract lapses with time or is terminated,” the Court said in its order.
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