Toilets In Petrol Pumps Are Only For Customers, Can't Be Used By Public: Kerala High Court

Last Updated:June 19, 2025, 17:33 IST

The fuel station owners, in their petition, have contended that the private toilets in their establishments were meant for the emergency needs of the customers.

The Court passed the interim direction while considering a petition filed by Kerala's petroleum dealers association and several individual outlet dealers. (File)

The Kerala High Court has recently held that toilets at petrol pumps are intended for the use of customers only and are not meant for use by the general public.

A single bench of Justice C S Dias issued the order while hearing a writ petition filed by the Petroleum Traders Welfare and Legal Service Society and five individual retailers objecting to the categorisation, by the state government and local bodies, of toilets in their establishments as public facilities.

The fuel station owners, in their petition, have contended that the private toilets in their establishments were meant for the emergency needs of the customers and cannot be left open for the general public, Bar and Bench reported.

They alleged in their petition that municipal authorities had arbitrarily pasted posters on washrooms located within private fuel stations, declaring them as ‘public toilets.’ They firther alleged that local authorities were reportedly pasting posters with feedback QR codes on such toilets, misleading the public into believing they were meant for unrestricted public use.

They said that this misrepresentation was causing large crowds, including tourist buses, to access these premises, leading to chaos, and compromising safety at petrol bunks as per the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) guidelines.

The dealers maintained that the washrooms were installed only for customers who stop to refuel and need them in an emergency. Allowing unrestricted entry would “impede and even endanger the functioning of petrol pumps", they said.

“Hence in light of the impending threat and disastrous consequences which might ensue due to usage of such toilets by general public at large; it is essential that requisite directions may be passed by this Honourable Court to restrict usage of such toilets only to customers who come for refuelling their vehicles and that too only in emergency situations," the petitioners submitted, as quoted by LiveLaw.

Agreeing with their contention, the court, in an interim order, directed the state government and the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation “not to insist that the wash rooms in petitioners’ outlets be used by the general public".

The court listed the matter for further hearing on July 17.

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...Read More

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...

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Thiruvananthapuram, India, India

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