HC seeks details of purchase of school bags, shoes for kids
LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court has provided one week more to the state counsel to file affidavit (reply) regarding the complete procedure adopted in the purchase of school bags and shoes for kids of primary schools in the state.
A division bench of justices Vikram Nath and Abdul Moin passed the order on a PIL based on reports published in the Hindustan Times, raising the issue of poor quality school bags and shoes provided to the students of government primary schools.
The court had taken suo motu cognizance of reports and directed to register them as PIL. It had sought a reply on affidavit from the state. Pursuant to the court’s order, Manisha Trighatia, secretary, basic education, was present before the court on April 11. Chief standing counsel Ramesh Pandey had prayed for and was granted a week’s time to file the affidavit of the secretary regarding the complete procedure adopted in the purchase of shoes for the students.
As per the court’s order, an affidavit of Rajeev Mullick, journalist who had written the said news report, was filed through his counsel, which was taken on record. According to the reports, it came out that even the bags which were supplied to students during the period of July to October, 2017 were also in the same condition as the shoes and the government had claimed to have spent Rs 219 crore on the distribution of free school bags.
The court listed the case on April 20, directing that any responsible officer of the basic education department shall remain present on the next date.