Bhubaneswar: The state government has issued a showcause notice to Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 here for holding classes during the summer vacation.

Special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi issued the notice on Thursday and the principal of the school has been asked to reply to it within three days, failing which action shall be initiated against him according to legal provisions."It has come to the notice of the government that in utter violation of the above direction of the state government, your school continues to hold classes. As a result, young children have been compelled to travel in severe hot and humid conditions and attend classes in such situation. This might have serious implications on the life and health conditions of the students and others," special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi wrote to the school.

School sources, on the other hand, said the classes for both the shifts used to be held between 6.30am and 10.30am before it became very hot.

In another development, the school on Thursday issued a notice about the shutting down of the school. "All the classes will remain suspended up to June 25 as per the notification of the government of Odisha due to the prevailing heat wave," the notice said.

In view of the heat wave condition prevailing in the state, the government had on June 19 issued direction for extension of summer vacation in all schools initially till June 21 and subsequently till June 25.

But all the Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state were open since June 4. A source in the Kendriya Vidyalaya said that they were confused about whether to keep the school open or closed. They alleged that they had not received any directive from the state government in this regard. "The state government should have written a letter to the schools to clear all confusions," said the principal of another Kendriya Vidyalaya in the city requesting anonymity.