MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently dismissed a PIL seeking direction to restrain the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing Development Corporation (TAHDCO) from spending Rs 50 crore towards repair and construction works in about 170 SC/ST school and hostel buildings in Tamil Nadu.
The litigant C Selvakumar stated in his petition that there is a central government scheme for the construction of school and hostel buildings for SC/ST students. Therefore, the allocation of Rs 50 crore for the same purpose by the state government is superfluous, and it will lead to misappropriation of funds, he added.
However, a bench of justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan rejected his submissions. They noted that the above 170 buildings, which have been identified by the government, need renovation, toilet facilities, and compound walls for which the government has allotted funds. “Ultimately, it is going to benefit the downtrodden students and also strengthen the safety of the buildings already constructed with the public fund,” they pointed out and dismissed the petition.