Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the State Government and local bodies not to compel petitioners' outlets be allowed to be used by the public.

The judgment was passed by Justice CS Dias in response to a writ petition filed by the Petroleum Traders Welfare and Legal Service Society and five other petroleum retailers. The petition challenged attempts by local self-government institutions to designate washrooms in privately owned fuel retail outlets as public toilets under the ambit of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The petitioners contended that the toilets maintained by them at their fuel stations are for the emergency needs of the customers are being forced to be made open to the public.

They raised serious concerns that municipal authorities had gone as far as pasting public toilet signage on the premises, misleading the public and causing frequent disruptions.

According to the petitioners, this confusion has led to a surge of people including passengers of large tourist buses demanding access to the toilets. The court was informed that such incidents have increasingly become a threat to the safe operation of petrol pumps, which are classified as high-risk zones due to the storage of flammable materials.

The petitioners, represented by advocates Adarsh Kumar, KM Aneesh, Shashank Devan, and Yadu Krishnan PM, argued that the toilets built and maintained by petroleum retailers within their outlets are private property. They sought legal protection under Article 300A of the Constitution, asserting that no law allows authorities to treat these private washrooms as public toilets. They also cited specific provisions under the Petroleum Act and Petroleum Rules, 2002, to support their case.