RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW, J. - (1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, filed as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), seeks, (i) a direction to the Directorate of Education (DoE) of the respondent No.1 Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) to provide an alternative building provisionally for imparting education to the students of the Shafiq Memorial Higher Secondary School for a period of 18 months, till a new building is constructed; and, (ii) a direction to the respondent No.2 Management of Shafiq Memorial Higher Secondary School to forthwith take efficacious steps to prevent any uncalled for mishap, inclusive of abandoning those areas of the school which are imminently and likely to fall.
(2.) IT was the case of the three petitioners: (i) that Shafiq Memorial School, an aided school situated at Bara Hindu Rao, Delhi, having about 1200 children from Class I to Standard XII coming from poor underprivileged sections of the society, functions under the aegis of Delhi Education Society (Regd.); (ii) that the building which houses the said School is about 100 years old and a wakf property and in a dilapidated condition, endangering the security of life and physical safety of the children studying therein; (iii) that the Governing Body of the Delhi Education Society (Regd.) in its meeting held on 4th January, 2014 decided to have the existing building of the school demolished and to construct a new building in its place; (iv) that though the respondent No.2 Management of the said School had represented to various civic authorities including the DoE of the respondent No.1 GNCTD requesting them to make an alternative arrangement for running of the School but no replies were received.
(3.) THE petition came up before this Court first on 4th April, 2014 when the DoE of the respondent No.1 GNCTD was directed to come up with a viable solution. Vide subsequent order dated 17th April, 2014, an Advocate Court Commissioner was appointed to take photographs of the building of the School. The subsequent order dated 23rd April, 2014 records the concurrence of the DoE that the School building "requires extensive repairs". It also records the contention of the respondent No.2 Management of the School that the existing building is to be pulled down and a new structure raised in its place. The respondent No.2 GNCTD was accordingly asked to submit a report. One Sh. Fazlur Rahman applied for impleadment in this petition claiming to be father of three children studying in the said School and contending that only repair / renovation work is required in the building and it was not necessary to pull down the entire building and raise a new construction. It was further pleaded that the Delhi Education Society (Regd.) and the Management of the School were in conspiracy with land grabbers, to oust the students from the school premises so that the land underneath the school building can be used for commercial gain, either by converting it into an expensive private school or for some other purposes. It was further pleaded that taking advantage of the filing of the petition, students of Class XI and XII studying in the said School had been shifted to a new block and the students of Classes I to X had been shifted to Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Qutub Road in the afternoon shift for two years and which was causing huge inconvenience to the said students and their parents.;