India's highest judicial body, the Supreme Court of India has asked the central government, the Delhi government as well as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to respond to a plea for provision of drinking water and toilet facilities at the metro stations.

The order came on a petition filed by Satish Kumar Sharma, through his counsel Atulesh Kumar against a Delhi High Court order that had dismissed the plea. A bench of justices Deepak Verma and Ibrahim Kalifullah has issued a notice to the respondents for getting their response on the plea.

The petition claims that the similar facilities are provided by the Indian Railways at stations and at Airports and thus they should also be provided to metro commuters. It also alleged that the lack of basic facilities puts passengers at health risks.

The petitioner claims that due to the development of metro connectivity, several commuters travel for as long as 40 to 60 kms every day spending hours in the transport system without any access to toilets or drinking water.

"Delhi metro has not provided the most important facilities of drinking water and toilets on metro stations platforms and it is causing a lot of inconvenience to the public at large, particularly the children, women, old and aged persons and the physically challenged commuters," the petition said.

The apex court also ruled that the petition should be attached to another petition filed by an NGO that is linked to the missing basic amenities at metro stations in the NCR region.