New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday directed all states and Union Territories (UTs) to ensure implementation of its directions on menstrual hygiene management in schools by August 15, and file compliance reports, as it continued to monitor compliance of its landmark ruling recognising access to menstrual hygiene as a fundamental right.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan indicated that the matter would be taken up again in September to review the status of compliance.
The directions came in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur, in which the apex court has been examining the ground-level implementation of its earlier judgment mandating free sanitary napkins and functional girls’ toilets in schools.
The top court had earlier granted three months to the Centre, states and UTs to ensure implementation of a slew of directions, including free sanitary napkins in schools, functional gender-segregated toilets, menstrual hygiene awareness programmes, and safe sanitary waste disposal systems.
During the hearing, the Justice Pardiwala-led Bench was apprised of the status of compliance by the Union government as well as concerns raised by the petitioner regarding the pace and quality of implementation across states.
In a short note placed before the Supreme Court, the petitioner flagged serious gaps in execution, submitting that the compliance affidavit filed by the Centre “has not placed any field report as to how the compliance has been really done” and instead focuses on “future recommendation for implementing, proposed reforms and future road map, which can not be treated as compliance of the specific directions”.
The petitioner further pointed out that several states have yet to furnish compliance reports, noting that “only the Union Territory of Chandigarh has submitted its compliance report so far”.
Referring to a NITI Aayog report for 2026, the petitioner said that as many as 98,592 government schools in the country do not have functional girls’ toilets, while 61,540 schools do not have any usable toilets.
It was further alleged that there was inadequate budgetary allocation by some states for the implementation of the Supreme Court directions.
“The State of Madhya Pradesh has only allocated Rs 60 lakh for the FY 2026-27 for the supply of sanitary products in schools for the whole state,” the petitioner contended.
It also flagged the absence of permanent sanitation staff in schools, stating that most states were dependent on municipalities and village panchayats for sanitation work instead of appointing dedicated toilet cleaners.
On May 8, the apex court had taken on record a detailed affidavit filed by the Union government outlining steps taken towards compliance and directed that a concise status note be shared with all parties.
The continuous monitoring stems from a landmark judgment delivered earlier this year, in which the Supreme Court held that access to menstrual hygiene is an integral part of a girl child’s rights to life, dignity, health and education under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Observing that “a period should end a sentence — not a girl’s education”, the top court had issued a comprehensive set of directions mandating free sanitary napkins, functional gender-segregated toilets, proper disposal mechanisms, and menstrual health awareness across all schools.
The Justice Pardiwala-led Bench had also made it clear that both government and private schools must ensure adequate infrastructure, including water supply, hand-washing facilities, and menstrual hygiene management systems, while tasking authorities with regular monitoring and inspections.
–IANS
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