Public toilet broken - RTI for sanitation

Sunita lives in a north Delhi resettlement colony. The one public toilet serving her lane has had no door lock for three months, the tap runs dry by 8 a.m., and the floor is so slippery that her mother slipped and bruised a rib. She complained to the sanitary inspector twice. Nothing changed. The contractor keeps billing the municipality, but nobody cleans. Sunita wants proof - who owns this toilet, who is paid to maintain it, and when it was last inspected - so she can force real action instead of another promise.

That is exactly what the Right to Information Act is built for. A broken or filthy public toilet is not a private grievance; it is a public-service failure paid for by your taxes. This page shows, step by step, how to use RTI to pull out the maintenance paper trail, which law backs you, and where to escalate when the municipality stalls.

Three layers of law protect your right to a usable toilet.

• RTI Act 2005, Section 6(1) - the right to ask any public authority for recorded information. The fee is Rs.10 under the Central RTI Rules 2012 (Rule 3, G.S.R. 603(E) dated 31 July 2012), payable by Indian Postal Order, demand draft, cash, or electronically through rtionline.gov.in. BPL applicants are exempt from the fee under Section 7(5). See why RTI costs Rs.10 and the full RTI fee structure.
• Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM-U) protocols. The ODF+ and ODF++ protocols, including the CT-PT Cleanliness Scoring Matrix released 1 November 2018, rate community and public toilets on Mandatory, Essential, Desirable and Aspirational indicators - from “Unusable” below 60 percent up to “Aspirational” above 95 percent. For ODF++ status, at least 25 percent of a city's community and public toilets must be “Aspirational” and none “Unusable”. The revised certification protocols were relaunched under SBM-U 2.0 on 24 June 2022 on the Swachhatam platform. This matrix is the correct toilet-quality benchmark, not the city garbage star rating.
• Sanitation as a fundamental right under Article 21. The Supreme Court in Rajeeb Kalita v Union of India, 2025 INSC 75 (15 January 2025) held that access to clean toilets is a fundamental right under Article 21 and a facet of human rights, and directed separate male, female, persons-with-disability and transgender toilets in all court and tribunal premises, invoking Articles 47 and 48A. The Bombay High Court in Chetan Samajik Pratishthan v BMC (February 2025) held adequate sanitation a basic human right under Article 21 and directed BMC to repair and construct toilets in Mumbai slums. The Patna High Court (2022) held the right to access a clean toilet on highways is a fundamental right under Article 21. The Madras High Court in P. Saravanan v Union of India (2021) held that “a neat and hygienic toilet is a right of the citizen” and directed that public toilets be provided free of cost wherever possible across Tamil Nadu.

If the toilet lacks a ramp, a grab bar, or a sign in braille, that is a distinct legal violation you can raise alongside the cleanliness RTI.

• RPwD Act 2016, Sections 40, 44, 45 and 46 create mandatory accessibility duties. No building permission or completion certificate can be issued without compliance, and existing public buildings must be made accessible within five years. The RPwD Rules 2017, Rule 15(1), referenced the “Harmonised Guidelines”, substituted by the Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Universal Accessibility in India, 2021 (MoHUA), notified through the 2023 amendment on 5 June 2023.
• Rajive Raturi v Union of India, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3217 (12 November 2024) - the Supreme Court held Rule 15(1) of the RPwD Rules ultra vires because it referred to merely recommendatory “guidelines” rather than mandatory rules, and directed the Union to frame mandatory accessibility rules within three months.
• NALSA v Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438, Direction 135.6, directs Centre and State governments to provide separate public toilets for transgender persons; discrimination on gender identity violates Articles 14, 15, 16, 19(1)(a) and 21.

So an RTI on a public toilet can legitimately ask not only about cleaning but also about the accessibility audit and whether a transgender-friendly cubicle exists.

RTI gets you the paper trail; a grievance gets the repair started. Do both.

1. Open the Swachhata-MoHUA App (the official MoHUA civic grievance app, built on the Janaagraha IChangeMyCity platform). Choose the public-toilet category - cleaning, blockage, no water, no electricity. These complaints carry a 12-hour service-level agreement. The app also shows nearby public toilets and lets you rate them. The SBM helpline is 1969 and email support is [email protected].
2. Note the complaint number and date. You will quote it in your RTI so the PIO cannot say “no complaint received”.

Public toilets are usually run by one of these:

1. The municipal corporation or council (Sanitation / Health / Conservancy department).
2. A contracted agency or NGO operating a pay-and-use block under an MoU with the municipality.
3. On highways, the NHAI or state Public Works Department.

For most urban toilets the correct PIO is the Municipal Sanitation Officer or the Health Officer. For a pay-and-use block, the contract still sits with the municipality, so the RTI goes to the municipal PIO - the contractor is a “public authority” only if it is substantially financed by government, but the records you want (contract, audit, complaints) are held by the municipality regardless.

To: The Public Information Officer
[Name of Municipal Corporation / Council]
[City, Pincode]

Subject: Application under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act 2005 -
Maintenance and condition of public toilet at [full address / landmark / Google Maps pin]

Sir/Madam,

The public toilet located at [address] is broken / unhygienic / has no water /
lacks disabled access. Complaint No. [Swachhata app / 1969 number] dated [date]
has not been resolved.

Please furnish the following information:

1. The entry for the above toilet in the public toilet location register
   maintained by the department, including its ID, type (community / public)
   and ODF+/ODF++ cleanliness score under the CT-PT Cleanliness Scoring Matrix
   of 1 November 2018.
2. A certified copy of the current operation and maintenance contract or MoU
   for this toilet, including the contractor's name, fee structure, and the
   cleaning staff strength and shift schedule.
3. The last three cleaning audit / inspection reports for this toilet,
   with dates and the officer who inspected.
4. Extracts of the complaint-action register showing complaints received
   for this toilet in the last 12 months and the action taken on each.
5. The projected date of repair / retrofit and the budget head under which
   it is sanctioned.
6. Whether this toilet meets the accessibility standards under the RPwD Act
   2016 and the Harmonised Guidelines 2021; if not, the reason.
7. The user-fee policy for this toilet and any order waiving the fee for
   women, children, elderly or persons with disabilities.

I am a citizen of India. The required fee of Rs.10 is paid by
[Indian Postal Order No. ___ / Demand Draft No. ___ / online receipt No. ___].
I request that the information be supplied in printed form by post.

Date:
Place:
[Your name, address, phone]

1. Toilet location register and ODF++ score - confirms the toilet officially exists and how the city itself rated it. A score of “Unusable” is your strongest lever.
2. Maintenance contract - names the contractor, the fee, the cleaning frequency, and the penalty clause for non-performance. If the contractor is paid but never cleans, that is mismanagement you can show to the auditor or the court.
3. Cleaning audit / inspection report - shows whether anyone from the municipality actually checked the toilet. No recent audit means the department itself failed its SBM duty.
4. Complaint-action register - proves the pattern: many complaints, no action. Quote your own complaint numbers.
5. Projected repair and accessibility status - forces the department to commit to a date and disclose whether disabled and transgender access is even on their radar.

Rs.10 for most Central and many state applications, payable by IPO, DD, cash at the counter, or electronically on rtionline.gov.in. BPL certificate holders are exempt. Some states charge a different amount or accept court-fee stamps; check your state rules on the same portal. Full detail is on the RTI fee structure page.

1. The PIO must reply within 30 days (48 hours if life or liberty is involved - not applicable here).
2. No reply, or an evasive reply, means a deemed refusal. You can then file a first appeal within 30 days to the First Appellate Authority in the same department, free of cost.
3. Still no relief? File a second appeal to the Central / State Information Commission - within 90 days of the first appeal order (or of the date by which the FAA should have replied). The Commission can impose a penalty on the PIO and order disclosure.

^ Stage ^ Authority ^ When ^
| 1 | Sanitary Inspector / Sanitation Officer (grievance + Swachhata app) | Immediately |
| 2 | Municipal Commissioner / Health Officer (written grievance) | If no fix in 7 days |
| 3 | RTI to the PIO of the Sanitation Department | After step 2, to collect proof |
| 4 | First Appellate Authority under RTI Act | If RTI reply is evasive or missing at 30 days |
| 5 | State / Central Information Commission | If first appeal fails |
| 6 | High Court writ under Article 21 + Article 226 | If sanitation failure is systemic; cite Rajeeb Kalita 2025 INSC 75 and the relevant HC order above |

The Article 21 sanitation rulings are your strongest court lever. If your municipality runs a toilet that is officially rated “Unusable” on the ODF++ matrix and ignores repeated complaints, a High Court can direct repair the same way the Bombay High Court did against BMC in February 2025.

1. Filing without the toilet's exact location or landmark. The PIO replies “information not available” and the clock resets.
2. Bunching ten toilets into one application. File one RTI per toilet - the fee is Rs.10 each and each gets a clean reply.
3. Citing the city garbage star rating instead of the ODF+/ODF++ CT-PT cleanliness score. The star rating is about garbage-free cities, not toilets; the CT-PT matrix is the toilet-specific benchmark.
4. Forgetting to attach your Swachhata complaint number. Without it the department can deny any grievance exists.
5. Asking only for “action” instead of for documents. RTI delivers records, not promises - demand the contract, the audit and the register.

• Q: Pay-and-use or free - what is the rule? There is no uniform national free-toilet policy. Some cities and states waive the user fee for women, and the Madras High Court (2021) directed that public toilets be provided free of cost wherever possible. Use the RTI to ask for the fee policy and any waiver order for women, children, elderly and persons with disabilities at your toilet.
• Q: Can I ask about disabled-friendly access? Yes. Under the RPwD Act 2016 and the Harmonised Guidelines 2021, accessibility is mandatory, and the Supreme Court in Rajive Raturi (2024) struck down the weak Rule 15(1) and ordered mandatory rules. Ask the PIO for the accessibility audit and ramp / grab-bar compliance status.
• Q: The toilet is on a highway, not in a city. Who do I write to? The Patna High Court (2022) held that a clean toilet on a highway is a fundamental right and directed the Bihar government and NHAI to provide public conveniences. File your RTI to NHAI or the state PWD.
• Q: Is there a separate toilet for transgender persons? NALSA v Union of India (2014) 5 SCC 438 directs governments to provide separate toilets for transgender persons. You can ask the PIO whether such a facility exists in your area and, if not, the plan to build one.
• Q: The PIO says the contractor is a private party and not under RTI. The records you want - the contract, the audit, the complaints - are held by the municipality, which is a public authority. The contractor's privacy does not exempt the contract from disclosure; the municipality can disclose the performance-related clauses and the inspection reports.

• RTI for garbage collection failure - same municipal paper-trail method for solid waste.
• RTI for sewerage overflow - drains and sewer lines.
• RTI for AMRUT scheme funds - urban water and sanitation funding.
• RTI for smart city mission - city infrastructure projects.
• How to file an RTI online in India - the full filing walkthrough.
• RTI fee structure - fees, modes and exemptions.

1. Central RTI Rules 2012 - G.S.R. 603(E) dated 31 July 2012; RTI Act 2005 Sections 6(1) and 7(5). https://legalaffairs.gov.in/rti/fee-required-under-rti-act
2. SBM-U ODF+/ODF++ protocols and CT-PT Cleanliness Scoring Matrix, 1 November 2018. https://stagingwebsite.sbmurban.org/standardised-protocols
3. PIB - Revised Swachh Certification Protocols, SBM-U 2.0, 24 June 2022, PRID 1836975. https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1836975
4. Swachhata-MoHUA App - Janaagraha, public toilet SLAs and helpline 1969. https://www.janaagraha.org/work/swachhata-technology-platform/
5. RPwD Rules 2017 Rule 15(1) and the 2023 amendment notifying the Harmonised Guidelines 2021 (MoHUA), 5 June 2023. https://depwd.gov.in/en/rpwd-amendment-rules2023-harmonised-guidelines-and-space-standards-for-universal-accessibility-in-india-by-2021-by-mohua/
6. Rajive Raturi v Union of India, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3217 (12 November 2024). https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2024/11/12/union-mandate-rules-under-rpwd-act-ensure-accessibility-of-public-places-supreme-court/
7. NALSA v Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438, Direction 135.6. https://clpr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NALSAvUOI.pdf
8. Rajeeb Kalita v Union of India, 2025 INSC 75 (15 January 2025). https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2023/18264/18264_2023_14_1502_58449_Judgement_15-Jan-2025.pdf
9. Chetan Samajik Pratishthan v BMC, Bombay High Court (February 2025). https://indianexpress.com/article/legal-news/sanitation-facilities-human-right-article-21-bombay-hc-bmc-toilets-mumbai-slums-10519801/
10. Patna High Court (2022) and Madras High Court, P. Saravanan v Union of India (2021). https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/access-to-clean-toilet-a-fundamental-right-patna-high-court/articleshow/91996370.cms

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.

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