Only 7 lakh of 1.5 cr shoes were of poor quality, HC told

LUCKNOW: Only seven lakh out of 1.5 crore (4.5%) pairs of shoes bought for free distribution among primary schools kids were found to be of poor quality, submitted the state government before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday.

“These too (poor quality shoes) are being replaced in all Uttar Pradesh districts, including Lucknow,” said Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh, director, Basic Education department, who appeared before the court with an affidavit by secretary, Basic Education, Manisha Trighatia.

The court is hearing a PIL based on reports on poor quality school bags and shoes provided to students of government primary schools published in Hindustan Times.

The court had taken suo moto cognizance of the HT reports and directed to register the report as PIL. It had sought reply from the state. A division bench of justice Vikram Nath and justice Dinesh Kumar Singh has now listed it for hearing on May 16.

Earlier, the court had provided a week’s time to the state counsel to a reply on the procedure adopted in the purchase of school bags and shoes for kids.

Chief standing counsel Ramesh Pandey informed the court that director Basic Education, on March 26, has written a letter to concerned authorities for replacement of poor quality shoes, socks and school bags.

Pandey said the state government was seriously taking steps to resolve the issue.

Earlier on April 11, Trighatia had appeared before the court.

As per the court’s order, an affidavit by the journalist who had published the said news report in Hindustan Times was filed through his counsel and was taken on record.

According to reports, it comes out that even bags which were supplied to students during the period of July to October, 2017 were also in the same condition as the shoes. The government had claimed to have spent ₹219 crore on the distribution of free school bags.

THE COURT HAD TAKEN SUO MOTO COGNIZANCE OF THE HT REPORTS AND DIRECTED TO REGISTER THE REPORT AS PIL. IT HAD SOUGHT REPLY FROM THE STATE.