Delhi High Court pulls up AAP government over ‘pathetic facilities’ at city school
Alok Punj Senior Secondary School in northeast Delhi lacks enough teachers, drinking water and toilets, and its playground is apparently a garbage dump.
The Delhi High Court on Monday pulled up the Aam Aadmi Party government over the lack of basic amenities at a fully-aided government school in the city, PTI reported. The court ordered that steps be immediately taken to ensure water and toilet facilities at the school, located in northeast Delhi.
A nonprofit Social Jurist had filed a public interest litigation complaining about the lack of infrastructure and water and toilet facilities at Alok Punj Senior Secondary School in Karawal Nagar. The school was earlier run by a society, but was taken over by the Delhi government.
Land earmarked for a playground at the school was being used to dump garbage and domestic waste, the petition claimed. The plea also said the school did not have enough faculty members, with many posts lying vacant.
The petition sought directions to the Delhi government to provide adequate infrastructure and amenities to the faculty and over 2,600 students of the school.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed the Deputy Director of Education to conduct a physical inspection of the school to ascertain infrastructural inadequacies. The bench ordered the official to file a status report within 10 days after carrying out the inspection.
“It [the school] is 100% aided,” the court said. “Look at the facilities. This is pathetic.”
The court will hear the matter next on July 30.