The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the director general, senior secondary school education, Haryana, to file an affidavit mentioning details of the various grants/budget allocation received from Union government/state government for providing educational facilities, including infrastructural amenities, to the children.
The high court has also directed to furnish the details as to whether the said disbursements over the last 10 years were utilised by the Haryana government or had to be surrendered for want of utilisation.
The order was passed by a bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj while hearing a petition filed by Amarjeet and others, who are guardians of students.
The petitioners, through counsel Pardeep Kumar Rapria along with Ripu Daman Boora, had moved the high court seeking directions to the respondents тАУ State of Haryana and others тАУ to ensure safety of the students from the dilapidated school building that had already been declared unfit and dangerous for the students, thus causing a constant threat to the lives of the children. They also sought a direction to fill the vacant post in the Government Senior Secondary School, Balu, Kaithal district.
In reply to the petition, an affidavit of Harvir Singh, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Balu, was filed before the high court, wherein it was pointed out that an amount of Rs 52,63,000 was approved by the principal secretary to the Haryana government on January 27, 2020, for starting construction of six additional rooms. The said construction is claimed to start soon.
тАЬNo satisfactory explanation has been given as to why the aforesaid work could not be initiated even after a lapse of more than two-and-a-half years. It clearly shows lack of sensitivity of the state agencies in providing infrastructure and basic facilities to the students. It would thus be incumbent to ensure an affidavit to be filed by the director general, senior secondary school education, as to why the construction could not be initiated,тАЭ the high court said, adding that the affidavit should be filed within a period of three weeks.
