The Delhi High Court (HC) has ordered the Finance Department of the Delhi Government to timely release the allocated funds to the Public Works Department (PWD), concerning the six newly constructed government school buildings that are yet to start functioning due to the non-payment to the PWD, as per ANI reports.
The bench of judges, Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Arora, in an order passed on January 4, 2024, stated that, "Keeping in view the orders dated November 20, 2023 and December 5, 2023 as well as the fact that the payment has to be made from one department of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) to the other, the Finance Department of GNCTD is directed to release the requisite amount to PWD after taking all necessary permissions within two weeks."
What was the petition?
The court acted upon the petition that was filed by an NGO Social Jurist which highlighted that the buildings were non-functional due to the pending dues. According to the report by ANI, the government owes the PWD Rs 625.21 crore for the school, and due to the non-completion of the payment, thousands of students have been deprived of using the six buildings for more than two years.
The court while issuing notice to the respondents deemed the non-payment to the PWD by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) as a serious offense as it left the newly constructed buildings not fit for use.
Petitioner's lawyer Ashok Agarwal, termed this as a "blatant failure" on the part of the government to discharge their constitutional and legal obligations to provide education to children of the masses.
They also term it as a mockery of the RTE Act, 2009. It further violates the fundamental right to education of students as guaranteed to them under Articles 14, 21 and 21-A of the Constitution of India read with provisions.
The plea also mentioned that the shortage of classrooms near and around these Delhi Government schools, the student-teacher ratio is very high and the Right to Education of thousands of students residing in and around the neighbouring area is being affected.
