Chandigarh, October 10
Taking up a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Punjab Government to withdraw the Rs 1-crore grant given by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to Lawrence School, Sanawar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed the state Advocate General to immediately inform the school not to present or encash the cheque.

The high court issued notice to the Punjab Government seeking an explanation for the Rs 1-crore donation by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to his alma mater Lawrence School, Sanawar, during its 165th foundation day celebrations on October 4.

Issuing notices to the state of Punjab and principal secretaries of the departments of Planning and Finance, a Division Bench of Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rakesh Jain, however, did not issue notice to Sukhbir after the AG pleaded that the aforesaid amount was donated to the school on the basis of a decision taken by the Cabinet and not by the Deputy CM in his individual capacity.

Petitioner and ex-MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira had stated that in the Punjab Government’s annual plan 2012-13, an amount of Rs 1 crore was kept aside for the Punjab Nirman Programme that was to be spent on development activities such as Municipal Corporation roads, installation of tubewells, development of historical villages, ambedkar bhawans, sports stadiums, water supply schemes and construction of dharamshalas.

Against an actual expenditure of Rs 1.81 crore during 2011-12, an outlay of Rs 1 crore was provided for 2012-13. Khaira further alleged in the PIL that Lawrence School was very rich, with the annual fee charged by it from students being more than Rs 3 lakh a year. The school neither made a request for financial assistance, nor could it be imagined that such a rich/elite school would require funds from the Punjab Government, he said.

The petitioner further submitted that thousands of government schools in Punjab were in a pitiable condition and did not even have the requisite number of teachers, furniture and basic amenities. When the counsel for the petitioner requested the Bench to restrain the Punjab Government from permitting encashment of the cheque, Punjab Advocate General Ashok Aggarwal said that it would be embarrassing for the government if such an interim order was issued.

He suggested that he would ensure that if the cheque had not been encashed so far, it will not be encashed hereafter.