Cuttack, Sept. 5: After 18 years, Orissa High Court has revived a PIL seeking action against granting recognition and sanctioning grants-in-aid to private high schools in Kalahandi that did not have buildings on registered plots shown on records and other mandatory facilities.

Social service organisation Parivartan had filed the PIL in December 1996, to which the high court has agreed to take stock of the government action that had followed a judicial inquiry into it, later this month.

After four hearings, the high court, on January 19, 1998, directed the Koraput district and sessions judge to undertake inquiry and submit report within six weeks. On May 16, 1998, the then Koraput district and sessions judge, Sk Jan Hossain, submitted his report.

The court directed the state government on July 23, 1998, to file an affidavit regarding the report. After an intervention petition was filed on August 12, 1998, by some of the schools covered in the report, the case had languished and gone into oblivion till it came up on September 1.

"Taking note of its status, the division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi directed the school and mass education department to file within two weeks an affidavit regarding action taken on the basis of the inquiry report of the district and sessions judge," said advocate Gokulananda Patnaik, Parivartan president-cum-chairman.

Rules prescribed in the Orissa Education (Establishment) and Recognition of Private High Schools, 1979, clearly state that schools applying for recognition should satisfy conditions such as site, area, buildings, equipment, library, staff and roll strength.

Yet, several Kalahandi schools, which exist in government records as recognised high schools and received grants-in-aid, neither had the building on the registered plot, nor the required number of students, the PIL contended on the basis of a report ("The high school drama") published in the October 23, 1996, edition of The Telegraph.

The judicial inquiry had made spot visits on March 30 and 31 in 1998 to seven high schools.

They said six schools had no building of their own on the registered plots. In case of the seventh one, which had a building over 60 decimals, the roll strength was 41 (Class VIII), 25 (Class IX) and 30 (Class X), along with eight teachers (two appeared in BEd and one continuing) and four non-teaching employees.

Yet, the state government issued a notification on April 2, 1995, declaring all the seven high schools along with 39 private educational institutions eligible for grant-in-aid in Kalahandi circle.

In case of the Binod Bihari High School, Kankeri, established in 1988 and recognised by the government in 1990, the report said: "Construction of the school building is going on over 50 decimals. It consists of four rooms built mostly of mud up to the door level. The school is at present functioning at Matru Mangal Kendra. In short, no school building of its own exists on the registered plot."

"The school was established on July 7, 1989, according to official records. It used to function on Barapadar U.P. School campus from 1989 to 1997 and shifted to its own building at Bharuamunda on February 21, 1997, according to headmaster. It consists of five rooms with verandah. There is no roof over two rooms. The construction is continuing," the district judge said on the Panchayat High School, Bharuamunda, in his report, a copy of which is in possession of The Telegraph.

In case of the Panchayat High School, Gadiajoro, the report said: "The school was established on July 10, 1988, according to official records. It is functioning at Graingolla building. The building, said to be the school's, has no roof, no door and window."

The report in case of the Jagannath High School, Jayantpur, said: "The school was opened on July 15, 1987. It has no building of its own and it is functioning in a private house of one Dhabaleswar Naik." The school with five teachers had a roll strength of 19, 20 and 28 in Class VIII, IX and X, respectively, with no stock register for library, scientific apparatus and sports articles.