MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the chief engineer of Public Works Department (PWD), Madurai and executive engineer of Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB), Madurai to conduct a joint inspection and file a report on the stability of a government school building, which was constructed at Thinaikulam village in Ramanathapuram in 2016. A bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar gave the direction in a suo motu petition, filed by the court in 2018, taking cognizance of media reports on the dilapidated state of the said school building.
In the previous hearing, the judges had taken a serious view of the fact that the building was still used as classrooms, in spite of being deemed unsafe by experts. They had also summoned the chief engineer of PWD and joint director of school education in this regard.
When the case was heard on Thursday, the officers appeared before the court and said the building was used by students of classes XI and XII. "As the public exam practicals are nearing, the students would be shifted from the building after the practical examinations get over," they told the court.
Recording this, the judges directed the PWD chief engineer and TNHB executive engineer to conduct a joint inspection to ascertain the stability of the building and ways to strengthen it, and file a report to the court. The case has been adjourned to February 22.