SC relief for Kullu school facing closure

KULLU: Giving respite to the authorities of a private school facing closure due to various discrepancies the Supreme Court has allowed the former to submit a representation to the competent authority saying it should be considered within seven days of its submission

Updated At : 12:46 PM Aug 01, 2019 IST

The Our Lady of Snow Kindergarten School at Kullu

Abhinav Vashisht
Kullu, July 31

Giving respite to the authorities of a private school facing closure due to various discrepancies, the Supreme Court has allowed the former to submit a representation to the competent authority, saying it should be considered within seven days of its submission.

The apex court stated that the interim order passed by the High Court should not come in the way of the afresh decision in the matter by the competent authority.

The school authorities had submitted that there were certain improvements, which had been made and they might be permitted to approach the respondent concerned in the light of the report of the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority. The school authorities had further submitted that the ongoing academic session was only up to December 2019 and thereafter the school could be shifted easily.

The playschool was started in a separate complex in March and there were around 240 students in pre-nursery, nursery and KG classes. The District Programme Officer had ordered closure of The Our Lady of Snow Kindergarten School in the middle of the academic session after certain discrepancies were found during inspection.

The school authorities approached the HP High Court, which granted the school time to fix things. Based on the report by the district administration and the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Kullu, the High Court had on June 25 directed the principal of Our Lady of the Snow Kindergarten School, Kullu, to pay back fee collected from children to enable their parents to admit them in other schools. The affected parents had met officials of the Kullu district administration to provide an alternative for the students. The parents demanded that the school should be allowed to run kindergarten classes from the old building of the school. Most of the them also gave an undertaking that they were willing to teach their wards in the same school. Meanwhile, the parents said they were also concerned about the safety of their wards and the school authorities should take steps accordingly, complying with the rules. The school has been shut for the past one month, which includes 15 days of summer vacation.

School was given time to fix things

The authorities of he Our Lady of Snow Kindergarten School had submitted that the ongoing academic session was only up to December 2019 and thereafter, the school could be shifted.
The playschool was started in a separate complex in March and there were around 240 students in pre-nursery, nursery and KG classes.
The District Programme Officer had ordered closure of the school in the middle of the academic session after certain discrepancies were found during inspection.
The authorities then approached the HP High Court, which granted the school time to fix things.
Parents had demanded that the school should be allowed to run kindergarten from the old building.