High Court seeks fresh status report on govt schools’ maintenance

Shimla, June 11

The HP High Court today directed the state government to file a fresh status report regarding the proper maintenance of schools.

During the course of hearing, the state filed a status report informing the steps it had taken in this regard. The report revealed that there was substantial progress and that repairs, both minor as well as major, had been done and only a small number of classrooms were yet to be repaired.

After taking the report on record, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Satyen Vaidya observed that “we hope that for the remaining classrooms, repairs will be done as early as possible, preferably by August 31, 2024.” It directed the state to file a fresh status report and listed the matter for further hearing on September 5.

The court passed the order during the course of hearing on a public interest litigation regarding proper maintenance of schools. In its earlier order, the court had sought the details of government primary and middle schools from the state and what was the annual budget for the maintenance of schools.

In compliance to the court order, the Director, Higher Education, had filed a status report informing therein that minor repairs were required in 3,034 classrooms and major repairs in 1,512 classrooms. The state government had made a budgetary provision of Rs 2.5 crore for 2023-24.