The state of Karnataka was strongly criticised by the Karnataka High Court for failing to provide uniforms to children who attend government schools between the ages of 6 and 14 as provided by Section 3 of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The court observed, "Unfortunately, instead of providing uniforms, money is being transferred to the headmasters and School Development Monitoring Committees (SDMC) concerned. That is not the objective of the Act. God only knows whether it has reached the students or not," stated a report by The New Indian Express.
On January 31, 2023, a division bench of Justices B Veerappa and KS Hemalekha issued an order following the hearing of a contempt petition brought by Master Manjunath from the Karnataka district of Koppal regarding the government's noncompliance with its orders regarding uniforms for the academic years 2019–20 and 2020–21.
BB Cauvery, State Project Director for Samagra Sikshana Karnataka, stated in his compliance affidavit that, an order dated November 5, 2019, the funds were transferred to the concerned headmaster and SDMC accounts for the purpose of purchasing uniforms. According to the circular dated June 21, 2019, the required amount was transferred to the joint accounts of the headmaster and SDMC concerned for providing one pair of shoes and two pairs of socks for the 2019-20 school year.
The court ruled that the state government has a legal obligation to demonstrate its institutional responsibility. It gave the government two weeks to report compliance; if they don't, the offending officer will have to appear in court.
The government's attorney requested two weeks to file a thorough affidavit documenting how the high court's co-ordinate bench's decision was carried out in the interim, as reported by The New Indian Express.
