The Madras High Court on Wednesday disapproved of the government stipulation of maintaining a minimum distance of eight km between two government higher secondary schools and asked why there was a proliferation of government run liquor shops alone in the State without following any such distance rule.
A Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and N. Seshasayee expressed their deep anguish in writing when the School Education Department officials cited the distance rule for not having upgraded a government high school in Ayandur village in Tirukoilur Taluk of Villupuram district into a higher secondary school.
Passing interim orders on a public interest litigation petition filed by lawyer P.K. Naarayanan for upgrading the school in his native village after accepting the contribution of ₹2 lakh made by the local residents in 2015, the judges wondered how could officials harp on technicalities to deny even genuine public requests.
After recording the submission of the petitioner that the children of Ayandur had to travel for about five km to reach the nearest higher secondary school and it led to many girl children dropping out from schools, the judges said, schools and not liquor shops should be established in every nook and corner of the State.
When the Chief Educational Officer of Villupuram stated that the Ayandur school does not have a playground spread over three acres for it to be upgraded as a higher secondary school, the judges said, the government should also ponder as to why it was not taking serious steps to recover huge tracts of government properties encroached by “land sharks.”
Further, taking judicial notice of many government schools in the State lacking basic infrastructure such as concrete buildings, compound walls, hygienic toilets, laboratory facilities and libraries, the judges directed the High Court Registry to mark a copy of their interim order to the Chief Secretary of the State for appropriate action.
They also granted time for the School Education Secretary, Director of School Education and the CEO to come up with a better response to the PIL petition pending in the court since last year.
