The Kendriya Vidyalaya building. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Feb. 21: Uncertainty looms large over the fate of 1,034 students and 61 teaching and non-teaching staff of Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Malda, following its parent body KV Sangathan New Delhi’s decision to close the institution from today.

Principal Anil Kumar said there was no option but to put up the closure notice.

“The harsh decision had to be taken since the Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI), one of the school’s sponsors, had served an ultimatum on the KVS in October 2002. The PGCI had categorically stated that it would not be able to provide funds for the institution,” said Kumar.

Inaugurated on June 16, 1983, by then railway minister A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury, the school was funded by the National Hydel Power Corporation, which was later taken over by the PGCI, since 1984 in accordance with its agreement with the KVS.

Subsequently, the expenses of the institution — the only Central school in the district that had both Hindi and English mediums — were borne by the PGCI and the Eastern Railway’s Malda division.

The matter came to a head in October 2002 when the PGCI wrote to the KVS, stating it would be unable to pay for the expenses.

The reason: the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had objected to the lopsided student and expenditure ratio while scrutinising the PGCI’s internal audit report in 2002.

The CAG took exception to the fact that though the PGCI was incurring an annual expenditure of Rs 42 lakh for running the school, only 25 of the organisation’s employees’ wards were on the institution’s rolls.

Both the PGCI and the Eastern Railway were bound by an agreement with the KVS, which stipulated an annual payment of Rs 42 lakh each for the school’s various expenses.

“The CAG has disapproved such huge expenses for so few students,” said M.K. Dutta, chairman, PGCI.

Worried over the fate of the 1,000-plus students, the school committee has now urged the Malda district administration to settle the dispute.

Malda district magistrate Ashok Bala told The Telegraph that he was aware of the closure notice. “I will hold talks with the railway authorities to resolve the crisis,” said the district magistrate. Malda divisional railway manager Bijoy Kumar Mangalik said: “The KVS wants us to pick up the tab. But it requires a lot of money.”

The funds pooled in by both the PGCI and the railways were, however, not enough to meet the school’s annual expenses, pegged at more than Rs 1 crore. The institution had been collecting Rs 120 from each student as monthly development fee for the past few years to tide over an acute funds crunch.