Patna High Court on Saturday directed the state government to file an affidavit in a case complaining about paucity of public toilets in the state capital. A division bench of the court of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Hemant Gupta and Justice Sudhir Singh passed the order.

The state government has been directed to file the affidavit within four weeks.

Jitendra Kumar Singh had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in which he had stated that Patna lacks sufficient number of public toilets as per its population. The petitioner has also raised the issue of non-maintenance and unhygienic condition of public toilets in the city.

Appearing on behalf of Singh, counsel Manibhushan Pratap Sengar told the court: "There are only 67 public toilets in Patna out of which 25 are defunct. Even those which are functional, most are occupied by unwanted people and the rest are in such a bad condition that most people - except slum dwellers and labourers - avoid using them due to their unhygienic conditions. Owing to this, people have to face lots of inconvenience, especially the women."

Sengar further said that because of this people are forced to urinate on the roadside. "This has its other repercussions as well," he said adding that it is detrimental to the environment while at the same time not conducive from the health point of view.

The judges nodded to the arguments raised by the petitioner's counsel. ACJ Gupta said: "Yes, I see people urinating on roadsides on my way to court from my residence."

"It is startling to see that while on the one hand the central government has spearheaded the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan', on the other, such unhygienic conditions prevail here," the court further said.

The bench then directed the state to file a comprehensive affidavit on the issue, stating as to who are responsible for the present mess and what steps the government intends to take to overcome the shortcomings.

The petitioner has also asked for formation of a separate committee, which would look after sanitation in the state capital.

The court directed all the respondents - the home secretary, the Patna commissioner, the Patna district magistrate and the urban development principal secretary - to file separate affidavits.

A Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) official on condition of anonymity said: "There is no mechanism for maintenance of urinals in the city. It has been over a decade since PMC constructed any public toilet or urinal."