High court judges to govt: Deduct our salary to facilitate students

NAINITAL: Taking strong note of the Uttarakhand government’s inaction in providing basic facilities to the students in the staterun schools, Justice Rajeev Sharma of the high court on Friday told secretary (finance) Amit Negi that if required government can deduct his salary to raise funds for the schools ailing basic amenities.

The judge reacted after the secretary (finance) briefed the court about the financial condition of Uttarakhand.

While hearing the writ petition of Deepak Rana, the court on Thursday had categorically told government to curb car and other luxury items for the officials until the basic amenities are provided to students of the government-run schools.

Continuing the hearing on Friday, the division bench of Justices Alok Singh and Rajiv Sharma asked the advocate general to have a word with the chief minister and come up with a solution.

The court modified its previous order partially, allowing the government to buy the needbased items such as water purifiers with the prior approval of the chief secretary.

However, it was made clear that the state government shall not buy any luxury items till further orders.

Earlier this year, the court had directed the education department to improve the condition of government-run schools. Later, the matter was referred to the finance department, which expressed helplessness in providing additional funds to the education department.