03-07-2025
HC seeks clarity on school mergers, warns govt lawyers of fine
Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has sought clarification from the Uttar Pradesh govt on whether a survey was conducted before deciding to merge primary schools in the state.
The court has asked the govt to present the survey report, if any, and provide a well-prepared response to the petition challenging the merger.
The court adjourned the hearing till Friday, warning the state's top lawyers that if they fail to present the govt's stand with full preparation and facts, a Rs 1 lakh fine may be imposed. The court made it clear that there will be no further postponement on Friday.
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 govt lawyers had sought time till Thursday for arguments.
Earlier, the petitioners' counsel L P Mishra and Gaurav Mehrotra argued that the state govt's decision of June 16 was "arbitrary" and "illegal". It was said that to ensure the right to education provided under Article 21A of the Constitution, the central govt passed the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act in 2009, under which education was made compulsory for children between 6 and 14 years.
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To ensure this constitutional right, the govt established a large number of primary schools in the state under the provisions of the Right to Education Act.
It was said that as per 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 govt is closing down a large number of schools by merging them through an administrative order.
It was argued that this act was against the provisions of Article 21A of the Constitution and the RTE 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 it cannot supersede any legislative provision.
Newly-appointed additional advocate general Anuj Kudesia and chief standing counsel SK Singh appeared for the state govt, while Sandeep Dixit appeared as the advocate of BSA Sitapur.
The govt counsel justified the merger decision, citing low student enrollment in many schools, with around 56 schools having no students at all. However, the court questioned whether a survey had been conducted to arrive at this decision and asked to see the survey report if one had been done. When the report could not be presented and the govt counsel started presenting its case with half-hearted preparations, the court got irked and started reprimanding the govt lawyers.
