The Kerala High Court pulled up the State government on Wednesday for failing to produce the files related to allocation of Plus Two courses before it.
Expressing displeasure at the approach of the State in conducting the case, Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon said he was willing to avoid the matter if the government was not interested in pursuing the case before him.
Though he imposed a cost of Rs.10,000 on the State in the case, the judge later deleted the order after Advocate-General K.P. Dhandapani tendered an apology.
When the Advocate-General pointed out that his office received the files only on Wednesday, the court orally observed that it would take only six hours for bringing the files from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi.
The court said the State was acting in an irresponsible and casual manner and asked why the State was seeking extension of time for pursuing the case. The court later posted the case to Thursday.
Petitioners’ stanceEarlier, approaching the court, a batch of petitioners contended that the criteria for allotting the batches in schools were overlooked. The names of some schools were inserted in the list overlooking the merit of others.
The guidelines, according to the petitioners, had mentioned that applications from individual school managers shall be considered only in the absence of applications from a government school or a corporate manager. These norms were also violated. However, T.T. Muhamood, Special Government Pleader, stated before the court that the norms were followed in allotting the batches. The batches were allotted after assessing the needs of different areas in the State, he said.
