Creche your honour

Come on in kiddo, says this space

Women advocates who were forced to take a break or say goodbye to litigation altogether post motherhood, have reason to cheer. A day care centre or creche was opened recently. The facility, which is located on the ground floor of the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) in Fort opposite the High Court, was inaugurated earlier this month by the Honourable Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya. This centre, conceptualised and designed by Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, will provide day care services initially for the children of the members of the Bar Associations practicing in the High Court at Bombay (Principal Seat) and staff members of the Bombay High Court. Sources said, "Guidelines are already framed, just some Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are still to be put in place. The space though is fully completed and we are ready to go operational, a decision will be taken soon." The day care will function from 10 am to 5.30 pm, on days the court is working and will admit kids aged 1 to 8 years. The approximate monthly charges, the court website says, is R2,500 for high court staff and R4,000 for advocates.

Art 'n' heart

What strikes you first about the air-conditioned, 1,000 sq feet space is its effective use of colour and facilities, with a compact kitchen/pantry for preparation / warming of food, sleeping facility for children, activity and dining area. Basics like toilets are provided, there is a nanny and ayah, as part of the centre staff. There is a play area, too, for the children and the green lawn with a tree amidst it with Warli work on the wall is an eye-catcher. The centre emanates an easy-breezy vibe and pops of colour, like art depicting monkeys swinging of vines bring a chirpy, cheery sentiment and innocent energy to the place.

The green scene is perfect

The genesis

Several hurrahs are being heard across, especially from organisations like the Interactive Lawyers Association for Women (ILAW), which claims that they were one of the first, "to push for a creche, as we have a lot of women advocates who had to take a long break or discontinue working for lack of such a facility". Anita Shekhar Castellino, advocate, said that a creche "was inaugurated a few years ago, but was not functional after that. We also had the COVID-19 pandemic that brought many initiatives to a screeching halt. We noted that many young women advocates would drop out of the profession or take a long break after marriage, especially after having a child as there was no safe place to leave your child especially one space which was easily accessible during working hours." Some reports stated that this space was earmarked for a day care but was turned into a documents storage room. This has fortunately gone back to what it was originally meant for: child care.

Many women reminded that the Central govt had amended the Maternity Benefit Act making it mandatory for companies with more than 50 employees to have creche/day care facilities, to encourage women to continue working and become self-reliant. That lent more strength to the efforts to make this place functional. After a journey with a few obstacles and speed breakers, the venue is ready and will welcome its young guests, infants and children very soon.

8 yrs
Age limit of the children at creche