Merger of Schools: HC asks UP govt to justify move with full facts on Friday

LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday asked the Uttar Pradesh government whether it had conducted any survey before taking the decision for "merger" of primary schools in the state. A Lucknow bench of the court said that if a survey had been conducted, its report should be presented. The court also said that the government should present its stand on the plea against merger with full preparation and facts.

For this, the court once again postponed the hearing till Friday. The bench warned the top lawyers appearing on behalf of the government that if the state's stand was not presented with full preparation and facts even on Friday, it may impose a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the government.

The court said that it would not postpone the hearing on Friday any further. A single bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia passed the order on a writ petition filed by Krishna Kumari of Sitapur and 50 others. The petition was presented for hearing on Wednesday but the government lawyers had sought time till Thursday for arguments.
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Petitioners' argued state govt order was illegal

Earlier, the petitioners' counsel L P Mishra and Gaurav Mehrotra argued that the state government's decision of June 16 was arbitrary and illegal. It was said that to ensure the right to education provided under Article 21 A of the Constitution, the central government passed the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act in 2009, under which education was made compulsory for children between 6 and 14 years of age.

To ensure this constitutional right, the government established a large number of primary schools in the state under the provisions of the Right to Education Act, they argued. According to the intention of the Act, schools were established for every 300 population within a radius of one km to provide the constitutional right to education and now the government is closing down a large number of the said schools by merging them through an administrative order, they said.

Number of students less in many schools, said counsel

Further, it was argued that this act is against the provisions of Article 21A of the Constitution and the Right to Education Act. It was also argued that once schools have been established on a large scale to fulfil the goal of the constitutional right under the Right to Education Act, the work done under the said Act cannot be reversed by a mere administrative order because an administrative order cannot supersede any legislative provision.

Newly-appointed Additional Advocate General Anuj Kudesia and Chief Standing Counsel SK Singh appeared for the state government while Sandeep Dixit appeared as the advocate of BSA (Basic Shiksha Adhikari) Sitapur. The government counsel said that the state had taken the decision of merger because the number of students in many schools was very less and in about 56 schools there were no students at all.

At this, the court asked whether the government had conducted any survey and if it had done so, where was its report. When the report could not be presented, the court got irked and started reprimanding the government lawyers.