Thursday, December 07, 2006

Delhi HC tells Centre to file reply in Sanskriti School case

New Delhi, Dec 05: The Delhi High Court today asked the Centre to file a detailed reply on a government proposal to grant Rs 10-crore to the capital's elite Sanskriti School and if it was a one-time grant or paid on a regular basis. A division bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar has sought clarification from the government if there was any specific policy for the release of such a one-time grant by the different arms of the government.The court also wanted to know if the government was planning to release any other grants soon while giving the latter four weeks' time to file its reply.The court had taken suo moto cognisance of news reports that the government was planning a Rs 10-crore grant for Sanskriti School set up by wives of top bureaucrats.It had taken up the matter as a PIL in which the question was debated as to why the government was routing large public resources to a school not accessible to children belonging to the weaker sections of the society.Arguing on behalf of the school, its counsel Arun Jaitley challenged the court's powers to examine a budgetary provision by Parliament."Any grant made under the budgetary provision was beyond the scope of the judiciary," he contended.Claiming that the school provided 20 per cent reservation to children from weaker sections of society, he questioned the illegality of receipt of government grants by it.Meanwhile, the court has issued a notice to the journalist based on whose report a PIL was filed.

Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=340180&sid=REG

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