If the State government wants to protect the right of children to education as per the Constitutional mandate, then it has to act swiftly, and no red-tapsim or passing the buck can be entertained and the buck should stop somewhere, said the High Court of Karnataka.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations as the government had not yet started constructing a new building for the government lower primary school, Agaralingana Doddi of Maddur taluk in Mandya district, even four months after the time granted by the court to complete the construction.
Giving three months more to complete the new building, the court cautioned that plea for further extension of time or recalcitrance would be viewed seriously.
Building highway
The school had lost its old building to the construction of Bengaluru-Mysuru Express Highway and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had paid ₹₹66.95 lakh to the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) as compensation for land acquisition. The land, donated by the villagers, was registered in the name of the school.
The court, in April, had allowed the petition filed by SDMC seeking direction to the government to construct a new building for the school which has 25 students and was running in a temporary room, without toilets and other basic amenities for about three years.
“It is rather unfortunate that the State is passing the file from one table to the other for establishment of a school for poor children despite the findings and the order passed by the court... If the State is concerned about the children, it would forthwith act and not bring back another application seeking extension or give scope to another allegation of recalcitrance,” the court observed as the government has complained that the SDMC had not transferred the compensation amount for construction of the building.
Meanwhile, the court asked the SDMC to transfer ₹73 lakh of the total ₹74.38 compensation amount along with accrued interest, to the government for taking up construction work.
Example of Japan
In its April order, the court had said that the Karnataka government should learn from Japan government, which wanted to close a railway station in a village in Hokkaido Island but kept it open for three years and operated a train at its cost to ferry one girl student to school and home till she graduated from high school.
