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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Government of NCT Delhi to ensure that there will be an uninterrupted supply of sanitary napkins to the students of the government schools/government-aided schools.
Delhi Government also said that for the aforesaid purpose, necessary expenditure and instructions have already been issued for immediate compliance. The Directorate of Education (DoE) of the Delhi government informed the court that "E-tender is at an advance stage as technical bids have been opened. A total of seven bidders have participated and the evaluation of technical bids of all bidders is underway. The financial bids will be opened immediately after the evaluation of technical bids." "All concerned Head of Schools, Deputy Director of Education (Zones), Deputy Director of Education (Districts) and Regional Directors of Education have been sensitized with the matter and necessary orders and guidelines have been issued to them for the procurement of sanitary napkins from the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and to ensure the distribution to each girl student enrolled in class 6th to 12th from the month of July 2022 positively", the DoE said in its affidavit. After noting down the submission of respondent authority submissions, the bench of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad disposed of the matter today. Earlier, the Court had sought a response from the Government of NCT Delhi on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) for restoration of sanitary napkin facility to girl students of Government Schools and asked "why was it stopped?" The Court directed the Delhi government to immediately frame a policy in order to continuously and uninterruptedly provide sanitary napkins to the girl students and should not depend upon the tender system of inviting tenders for this purpose. Advocates Ashok Agarwal and Kumar Utkarsh appeared for the petitioner Social Jurist and argued that the Government of Delhi has no justification to discontinue the facility of providing sanitary napkins to the female students of Delhi government schools who are very much in need of hygienic health and the girl student education. The PIL moved by NGO Social Jurist stated that the Directorate of Education (DoE) of the Delhi government had adopted the Kishori Yojana Scheme, where the girl students were to be provided Sanitary Napkins to maintain their personal hygiene and general health and also to remove obstacle in their studies. It was submitted that the DoE through the circulars dated 7 March 2018, 11 April 2018, 6 February 2019, 16 December 2020, and 18 June 2020 had directed the head of government school and the government-aided schools to distribute sanitary napkins to the girl students. The petitioner had submitted, "since January 2021, girl students in DoE run schools are not getting Sanitary Napkins. Restoration of this facility is very important and necessary for girl students for their personal hygiene and general health as in its absence, their education and attendance are adversely affected." It was also submitted that the action of not providing sanitary napkins is irrational, unreasonable, arbitrary, and violative of the Fundamental Right To Education of the girl students as guaranteed under Articles, 14, 21 and 21-A of the Constitution of India and under the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and Delhi School Education Act, 1973. (ANI)
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