Ghaziabad: The Allahabad high court, in an interim order, has directed the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to remove the seal from a school in Morti, near Raj Nagar Extension, that was sealed by the authority in July over alleged violations. The court cited Article 21-A of the Constitution,which states that every child up to the age of 14 years has a fundamental right to free and compulsory education.
The issue is related to St Xavier’s World School, a junior high school, which officials said was operational for about six to seven years and has about 200 students enrolled from classes 1 to 8. After the school was sealed on July 2, on account of alleged layout violations, the land owner had moved the court and obtained temporary relief.
“Our school has been operational for about six to seven years. Recently, some people near the school offered their land on lease to the corporation and we resisted the move as they were dumping garbage there. It was after this that the authority officials arrived and later sealed our school, which is spread over about 10,000 square metres,” Ajay Jain, director of St Xavier’s, said.
“We are running the school on leased land. As per norms, we do not have a 12-metre road outside the school, but such wide roads are not there in village areas. The layout documents are with the owner,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“We are running the school on leased land. As per norms, we do not have a 12-metre road outside the school, but such wide roads are not there in village areas. The layout documents are with the owner,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Ramphal Tyagi, the land owner and petitioner in the case, contended that the studies of students were affected for the last one month due to the sealing of the premises.
“We find that after the enactment of the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, whereby Article 21-A has been inserted in the Constitution, wherein it is provided that every child up to the age of fourteen years has a fundamental right to get free and compulsory education...” the court said in its order.
“In view of the above, we are prima facie satisfied that the action of Ghaziabad Development Authority in sealing the educational institution is not justified in the facts and circumstances of this case. Accordingly, we direct the vice-chairperson, Ghaziabad Development Authority, to remove the seal, if any, from the institution forthwith and consider the application of compounding expeditiously in accordingly,” the court added.
GDA vice-chairperson Kanchan Verma said the school was constructed on agricultural land and was in violation of layout norms.
“The school is not near a required width of road, which is required as per norms. The layout of the building was also rejected by the authority earlier. We will also have to check the provisions of the Master Plan. The directions by the court will be taken up and we will also file appropriate reply,” Verma said.