The Delhi High Court Monday asked the Centre and Delhi government to collectively resolve the issue of allotment of an alternative land for construction of new building of a 99-year-old school, which is in a dilapidated state.
A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani also asked the Centre and the Delhi government to resolve the issue of relocation of Rajputana Rifles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary School, currently located in Delhi Cantonment, to a temporary building till construction is made.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on July 30.
The bench was hearing a PIL by NGO Social Jurist which has alleged that Rajputana Rifles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary School, taken over by the Delhi government in 1975 and getting 100 per cent aid from it, was in a horrible condition.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) of the Delhi government had earlier told the court that a joint inspection of the building had revealed that it was constructed in 1919 and has outlived its useful life and was unsuitable for habitation.
Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the NGO, had earlier said around 450 students are studying in the school and they have been unjustly deprived of adequate physical infrastructure and academic faculty.
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Earlier, the Delhi government had said that while it can accommodate the students in other schools, it needs the school in question as its other educational institutions are "overburdened".
The Ministry of Defence had said the land where the school is located cannot be handed over to the Delhi government for setting up a new institute.
This had prompted the court to ask the Centre and the AAP government to sit together and work out a solution regarding the future of the school and the students studying there.
The plea has said, though, the school is open for all, it mainly caters to the children of servants of military officials who are not in a position to educate their kids in private school.
It has alleged that the school lacks basic amenities, including potable drinking water, functional toilets, science and computer labs, clean classrooms and proper boundary wall and several posts of teaching staff are lying vacant.
The petition has sought direction that the existing building of the school be demolished and rebuilt as state-of -the-art.
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