Ensure basic facilities in minority schools, HC to State

All minority schools should provide basic infrastructure like drinking water, toilets, classrooms and other facilities to students, said HC

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the State government to ensure that all minority schools provide basic infrastructure like drinking water, toilets, classrooms and other facilities to students in terms of the Supreme Court’s guidelines.

A Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy passed the order while disposing of a PIL petition filed by Azim Premji Foundation.

Earlier, counsel for the petitioner withdrew the plea for issuing a direction to the State to stipulate the norm that a school could get minority status only if it admits 75 per cent of its total seats for students belonging to the particular minority community.

The petitioner had questioned the government notification that had said that a school would be eligible for minority status if 25 per cent of its student strength belongs to a particular minority community.

However, the Advocate-General said that even ensuring admission 25 per cent of students from minority community would also be difficult in some cases.