After a three-year delay by state government officials in constructing a new school building, which was demolished after the land on which it stood was acquired for widening. and upgrading the Bangalore Mysore Highway.
A single judge bench of Justice M NagaPrasanna has directed the state government to immediately identify or approve identified land for the construction of a school building in Madurai. Irked by the long delay and review of the photographs submitted showing the condition of the makeshift schools in which students were transferred the court said “This court would not allow the State to reduce the fundamental right of education under Artice 21-A of the Constitution of India to a ‘mere rope of sand’”.
The bench praised the Japanese government for Making the Education of even one child a top priority. There is a train that runs at the cost of the state, which stops at a station to only pick up one school-going child, and later also drops her back when the school day is over. The train station exists only for one school-going child which is an excellent example of Good Governance at the grass root Level.
Case details
The school development and monitoring committee of the government lower primary school, Agaralinga Doddi Moved to the court seeking direction to be given to the government to immediately start the process of identification of land and rebuilding of the government’s school. In 2016, the National Highway Authority of India undertook a project to widen and upgrade the Bangalore-Mysore highway into 10 Lane Road, the land on which the school building was established, came under this area, and was accreted which led to the demolition of the entire school building.
NHAI awarded a composition of about rupees 67,00,000 the government did not identify any land in the area, but a circular was issued by the state, directing compensation amount received by the school to be immediately deposited to the consolidated account of the state. Since the school was not being set up, the members of the village began to protest for the identification of the land and construction of the school building.
After no action was taken by the government, the committee itself took up a small room and set up a school so that the children should not go out of education. The small room does not have the proper amenities that are required for a school and is not enough for 25 students. It does not even have a kitchen or a washroom.
State government response
The state government in its response said that, first, the compensated amount should be deposited in the consolidated front of the state, and then only the state would release funds for the establishment of a new school building. Secondly, it was also submitted that the 25 students Who were directed to be accommodated in a different school, the said school is in Hunasemarada Doddi which is either 500 meters or 1 Km away from the earlier school building.
In its final decision, the bench remarked that the social and economic development of a nation depends upon the educated population of the country. For a successful Democratic nation, education is a fundamental requirement. The right of children to free and compulsory education was enacted by the parliament on 4 August 2009.
The bench further said that the state must provide the required infrastructure and effective machinery for proper implementation of the said right failing which, the right to education, guaranteed under Article 21 A, would be infringed.
Those who handled the case are responsible for such apathy towards the cause of the children in the government school. These children are wholly dependent on the free and compulsory education that they are given as their fundamental right. The court allowed the petition and made it clear that since legislative assembly actions are now notified, and the officers of the state would be utilized by the election commission of India, it ordered the construction of the school building after the identification of the land from 1 June 2023 and to also report the update in case to the court.
Case title: The school development and monitoring committee vs the State of Karnataka and Others.
Written by Vaishnavi Goel (BA.LLB), 6TH Semester, Punjab School of Law, Punjabi University, Patiala
