Can't Reduce Right To Education To Mere "Rope Of Sand": Karnataka High Court On School Demolition For Mysore Expressway, Orders New Building

A single judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna was irked by the three year delay at the hand of the state government officials in constructing the new school building and on perusal of the photographs highlighting the conditions in the makeshift schools which the children are attending. It said “This Court would not permit the State to reduce the fundamental right of children under Article 21-A of the Constitution of India, to a “mere rope of sand”".

The bench cited the example of Japan, where in a remote place on the Island of Hokkaido, trains run by the State stop there only few times a day, once to pick up the only girl for school and later, to drop her back when the school day is over. The train station exists only for one school going child and the trains run at the cost of the State for one school going child, Court pointed.

It said “People round the globe tipped their hats in praise of the Japanese Government for making education even of one child a top priority. It was lauded as good governance at the grass-root level.”

Then it expressed “The officers of the State government must remember that right of every citizen matters and no child can be left behind. The issue before this Court is not “just one school”, it is “even one school”.”

Case Details:

The School Development and Monitoring Committee of the Government Lower Primary School, Agaralingana Doddi, Maddur Taluk had approached the court seeking a direction to the government to take immediate action for initiation of process of identification of land and rebuilding of the Government School.

The subject school was established 35 years ago. As and when the strength of students would increase, the need for expanding the school with required infrastructure also increased. Many members in the Village then volunteered and donated 10 guntas of land in favour of the State only for the purpose of building the School.

The Government school then came within the jurisdiction of the Gram Panchayat as it was in the vicinity of Agaralingana Doddi Gram Panchayat. The State then constructed two rooms, a kitchen and toilet both for boys and girls in the area that was donated by the members of the village and established a new building in the said area. From 2003 upto 2018 the school was functioning in its full swing. 25 students, both boys and girls, were studying in the said school from first to fifth standard.

In the year 2016 the National Highways Authority of India undertook a project of widening and upgrading Bangalore – Mysore Highway, into a ten-lane road. The land in which the school was established was also notified for acquisition which led to demolition of the entire school building. NHAI awarded a compensation of about Rs. 67 lakh. The Committee then in 2020 made a representation to the Block Education officer for utilization of compensation amount for purchasing an alternative land for construction of a new school building but, in vain.

The Government did not identify any land in the vicinity. But a circular was issued by the State on 10-06-2020 directing compensation amount received by the School on its demolition to be immediately deposited to the consolidated account of the State. Since the school was not being set up, the members of the village began to protest for identification of the land and construction of the school building.

This led to the Committee taking up a small room and setting up a school so that the children should not go out of education. The small room does not have any amenities, it is averred. It does not have a kitchen or a washroom it was said.

State Government opposed the plea:

The State government submitted that the Committee has no locus to knock at the doors of this court. Further, the compensation amount should first come to the consolidated fund of the State and only then the State would release funds for establishment of a new school building.

It was also said “The 25 students in the school are now directed to be accommodated in a school already functioning in Hunasemarada Doddi which is either 500 meters or 1 km. away from the earlier school building which stood demolished, the building would be re-constructed only after the compensation amount being deposited.”

In reply the committee contended that the children have to cross a state highway to gain access to the said school. Therefore, the young children cannot be put at risk to attend the school where the children are sought to be accommodated.

Findings:

At the outset the bench remarked that social and economic development of the nation depends upon its educated population. "For a successful democratic system, education is a fundamental requirement. The right of children for free and compulsory education was enacted by the Parliament on 04-08-2009. The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages 6 to 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools.”

It then pointed that State is under the constitutional obligation to provide education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years for which purpose it is the duty of the State to provide/create necessary infrastructure and effective machinery for proper implementation of the said right, failing which, the right to education guaranteed under Article 21-A would remain illusory.

“The right under Article 21-A has become a mockery in the case at hand, not at the instance of any private players, but at the instance of officials of the State owing to the ever known malady of “red tapism”...If the case at hand is noticed, it demonstrates apathy on the part of the State towards children, notwithstanding the right of the children for free and compulsory education, under Article 21-A of the Constitution of India,” it observed.

Rejecting the argument of the State that the petition was not maintainable, the court said “It is to be seen at what stage the Committee is before this Court espousing the cause of the children seeking to enforce the fundamental right of children for free and compulsory education. Therefore, the stand of the State is unacceptable.”

The School Development and Monitoring Committee, is a statutory Committee constituted under the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012, and it performs manifold functions, noted the court.

The Committee has framed its bye laws called the Karnataka Gram Panchayat (School Development and Monitoring Committees)(Model) Bye-Laws, 2006 in terms of Section 3 of the Karnataka State Civil Services Act, 1978. Bye-law 10 (j) and (q), empower the Committee to acquire, purchase or otherwise own or take on lease or hire temporarily certain properties that are necessary for furtherance of its functions qua the school, supervise all properties and finances of the School.

Therefore, it is not that the Committee is toothless, the Court observed. The communications made between the offices clearly indicate that the right to free and compulsory education of children, particularly in the Government school, is treated with utmost callousness, which cannot be countenanced, it added.

The bench said State ought to have taken immediate steps, on receipt of compensation amount in the year 2020 from the National Highways Authorities, in reply to the representation of the Committee to construct school building without any loss of time, so that the young children would not lose their education.

"The officers who handled these files are responsible for such apathy towards the cause of the children in the Government school...These children are wholly dependent on free and compulsory education that they are given as their fundamental right under Article 21-A of the Constitution of India and the same cannot be rendered illusory by sheer red tapism on the part of officers of the State.”

Accordingly it allowed the petition and clarified that since Legislative Assembly elections are now notified and the officers of the State would be utilised by the Election Commission of India. It permitted the construction of the school building after identification of the land from 01-06-2023 and report such compliance to this Court.

Case Title: THE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING COMMITTEE And THE STATE OF KARNATAKA & Others

Case No: WRIT PETITION No.21595 OF 2022

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Kar) 151

Date of Order: 13-04-2023

Appearance: PRAKASH M.H., ADVOCATE For Petitioner.

SHWETHA KRISHNAPPA, AGA FOR R1 TO R5.

B.J.SOMAYAJI, ADVOCATE FOR R6.

Click Here To Read/Download The Order