Orissa HC directs safety audit of school infrastructure to prevent deaths of students on campuses
The court has ordered formation of District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee, which should issue safety certificate to the school authority every year in June
The Orissa High Court has ordered the formation of a District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee in each district in the State to prevent untoward accidents like wall collapses or fire mishaps leading to loss of lives on campuses.
The court ordered the creation of such committees while hearing a case related to the death of a student due to a wall collapse inside a school in Ganjam district in 2016. The deceased student’s parents had moved court seeking compensation for the death.
“The State authority is directed to pay compensation of ₹8 lakh in addition to the ex-gratia amount of ₹2 lakh already declared by the District Education Officer,” ordered Justice S. K. Panigrahi.
The infrastructure should be headed by the district collector along with the members like district education officer and block education officer and executive engineer of the Public Works department or Rural Development department, Justice Panigrahi mentioned in his verdict. Inclusion of other stakeholders from the Education department has been suggested.
“Such a committee should ensure the safety audit of each and every school of the district and issue safety certificate to the school authority every year in the month of June,” the order stated.
The court also said the committee should meet at least twice a year. The sub-committee comprising engineers should ensure safety audit of the school infrastructure. There should be a grievance redressal mechanism under the aegis of the panel at block level, the order said.
“It is the duty of the school headmaster of every school to report to the concerned block development officer regarding unsafe wall and scrub up any school building and the BDO shall immediately take up the issue before the District Education Infrastructure Safety Audit Committee so that the issue can be resolved at the earliest. The collector should be the monitoring authority for the safety of the children to prevent such kind of mishap on school campuses,” Justice Panigrahi further stated in the order.
The HC insisted that school headmaster and the block education officer would be held responsible for any kind of mishap due to falling of wall or roof.
“The School and Mass Education Department should have a disaster management team to mitigate any kind of disaster in the form of falling of wall, fire or any other kind of calamity faced by the schools,” the court ordered.
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