HC to Army, govt: Where will you shift students of 100-yr-old school?

NEWDELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Army and the Delhi government where they would relocate the students of the Rajputana Riles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary school — a 100-year-old institution located in the Delhi Cantonment.

A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar directed the Army and the Delhi government to give details of the class-wise vacancies in the nearby schools, where the 326 students of school can be shifted.

“We want to know about the capacity of these schools? Whether there are vacancies there. Where will the children go? Will they sit in the corridor or on the terrace or under a banyan tree,” the bench said.

It also asked the Indian Army as to how it was seeking relocation of the children into nearby schools without first ascertaining if there were any vacancies there.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Social Jurist, a non-government organisation, contending that the Rajputana Rifles School, established in 1919 and taken over by the Delhi government in 1975, is in an extremely dilapidated condition.

Appearing for the Delhi government, additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose contended that the authorities were working upon to find a better solution to the problem.

Following this, the court remarked, “Is good conscience an argument when the building is in a dilapidated state and if something were to happen?”

The bench also sought to know from the Army whether it had any other plans for the land of the school as it was unwilling to hand over the site to the Delhi government for building a new school there.

Addressing the query, the Army said it was a reserved land, and hence it could not be handed over to the Delhi government.

The court directed the Army and the Delhi government to file affidavits by August 5 indicating where the children could be shifted.