Plus-II: Kerala HC Blasts Government's Casual Stand
KOCHI: Coming down heavily on the state government on the Plus II issue, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday observed that the state was taking the matter in a casual manner.
The court also imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on the state for not producing the files related to the government order granting new Plus II schools in the state.
However, it deleted the order after Advocate-General K P Dandapani tendered an apology. The court had earlier asked the state to produce the documents.
The court was considering a batch of petitions challenging the decision to sanction 699 batches of Plus II taken by the state cabinet on July 23.
The petitioner alleged that government did not follow criteria in allotting the batches and a list of selected schools had been published on the website of the Director of Higher Secondary Education.
Justice P R Ramachandra Menon changed the decision to impose a fine considering the apology by the Advocate-General, who pointed out that, if a fine is imposed on the government, it is likely to become a matter of discussion on news channels.
Considering the submission, the court deleted the order. The Advocate-General submitted that his office received the files only on Wednesday.
So he needed time to produce the files. Expressing displeasure, the court observed that the state was acting in an irresponsible manner.
“The delay shows the sad state of affairs of the state government. Why is the state asking for extension? Only six hours is needed to bring the files from Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi,” the court observed.
The judge later observed that he was ready to avoid the matter if the state was not interested to pursue the case before him. The court later granted the state ‘breathing time’ and posted the case to Thursday.
The petitioners alleged that the government flouted the guidelines while granting the new batches.
“Names of some of the schools were inserted in the list overlooking the merit of the other schools and without any supporting data or documents.
“At the same time, even without a government order, steps were taken by certain managements for the commencement of classes by inviting applications for the admission of students,” the petitioners submitted.