KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Chief Secretary on a suo motu proceeding initiated based on a report filed by Kerala Legal Services Authority (KELSA) regarding the plight of children transported to school.A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice P R Ramachandra Menon issued the directive by considering the report a public interest litigation.KELSA pointed out in its report that the guidelines issued by the state government with regard to the operation of the school buses were being blatantly violated. The government had issued guidelines for operating school buses in the wake of the Karikkakom and Channankara incidents. Six students and a woman drowned in Karikkakom on February 17, 2011, and three students died in the Channankara accident on September 26.The government had restricted operating vehicles more than 15 years old. But the school authorities have ignored the guidelines. Some of the buses are more than 30 years old and 70 per cent of the buses operating in the state are unfit to carry children. Citing media reports, KELSA said schools buy vehicles condemned by KSRTC and ISRO.It also said that students in hilly areas were travelling in jeeps and other heavy vehicles because of want of sufficient passenger buses. Many students travel on footboards. Students who use water transport on the outskirts of Alappuzha are also in a miserable state. The report also recommended stringent action against those violating the rights of children.KELSA submitted that various modes of transportation, including school buses, posed a major threat to the lives of students.The bad condition of roads and lack of proper transportation facility in many places add to their woes.
Comments
0 comment