HC ask Centre, govt to decide on ‘dilapidated’ school building

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Friday left it to the Centre and the Delhi government to demolish and re-construct a government school’s 99-year-old building which is “dilapidated and unsafe” for children.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice C. Hari Shankar expressed satisfaction over a report filed by the Delhi government’s directorate of education (DoE) in which it proposed that the ministry of defence (MoD) should construct a new building on the land to run an aided school or it may hand over the complete possession of the land to the department for construction of a new school building.

The court directed the MoD and DoE to workout the issue between themselves and submit a status report, and listed the matter for October 26.

The affidavit was filed through the Delhi government’s additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose in a pending petition by NGO Social Jurist in which it was alleged that Rajputana Rifles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary School in Delhi Cantonment, taken over by the Delhi government since 1975 and getting 100 per cent aid from the state government, was in a horrible condition.

“Since the building is dilapidated and unsafe for the children, as a measure of abundant caution, the students of the school may be shifted or adjusted to nearby schools with the consent of the parents,” it said.