The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed a petition seeking a direction to the authorities to sanction the establishment of a school on a portion of land belonging to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.
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The court was hearing a petition filed by C. Arumugam of Natham in Dindigul district. He had sought the direction to the authorities to sanction the establishment of the school on the land belonging to the HR and CE Department.
In 2021, he had filed a petition in this regard and the court directed the authorities to consider the representation. After conducting an inquiry, the HR and CE Commissioner ordered the land cannot be allotted for any other purpose as it would violate the provisions of the HR and CE Act and an earlier order passed by a Division Bench of the court.
A Division Bench of Justices P.N. Prakash and S. Ananthi took note of the submission made by the counsel for the petitioner who submitted that there are Supreme Court judgements on the importance of building schools in the country to create awareness.
The judges observed, “One can have no two opinions on this aspect because education is most important for the citizens and the Right to Education is now construed as a Fundamental Right. But that cannot mean that the HR & CE Department can give up its lands in violation of the Statute which governs them and also in violation of the specific orders that have been passed by this Court”. The petition was dismissed.