Delhi court orders shifting of students from dilapidated 100-year-old school

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Army and the Delhi government to immediately shift students from a dilapidated, 100-year-old school in Delhi cantonment, saying it was an emergent situation.

“In view of willingness showed by the respondents (Army and Delhi government), we direct them to immediately accommodate Rajputana Rifles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary School students to schools of the respondents because the building is in dilapidated condition,” a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said.

The court was hearing a plea by an NGO Social Jurist filed through advocate Ashok Agarwal, who had contended that the Rajputana Rifles Heroes Memorial Senior Secondary School was in a dilapidated condition and lacks basic amenities. It had alleged that the school did not have drinking water, functional toilets, science and computer laboratories, clean classrooms and a proper boundary wall and several posts of teaching staff are lying vacant.

On Monday, the bench said that the students, around 300, would be shifted forthwith to two schools, one of which is being maintained by the Delhi government and another one by the Army.

It also asked the authorities to provide transportation to the students to and from the schools for six months.

The court, while disposing of the plea, noted the Army’s stand, which stated that they were in need of the 3.229 acres of land. The Army said it was reserved land, classified as A2 according to a 1933 notification, and therefore, could not be handed over to the Delhi government.

“If any wisdom prevail over the respondents (Army) to reconstruct the building later on, we leave it to the high ranking military officers to do so. We make it explicitly clear that there is no legal obligation on them to reconstruct the school,” it said leaving it to the discretion of the Army to build the construction of a new school.