Astha
The Himachal Pradesh High Court said that the inaction of the state government to make some colleges function opposes the principles of rule of law and even welfare of the State.
A division bench of Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua said, “The public cannot be made to suffer due to lackadaisical attitude of the State.”
The writ petition claimed that certain colleges were not opened due to the inaction of the State. These colleges were announced by the previous government in 2017.
As per the petitioner, in 2017, funds were allocated for the completion of the colleges. Similarly, teaching and non-teaching staff were deployed too.
However, with the change in government, the scenario changed too.
“The Construction work of College building did not start. The staff deployed/posted in the newly opened College was transferred elsewhere.
The college did not function despite the fact that 13 students including 10 girls had taken admission in the College for the academic year 2018-19,” the petitioners submitted.
They alleged that the State has decided to de-notify the Colleges.
In pro bono, the petitioners have sought to challenge the de-notification.
On the other hand, the Himachal Pradesh government stated that the enrollment of students was almost nil or very few, and the land was also not available.
Therefore, the Colleges were not made functional by the government in 2018-19. The staff which was previously posted for the Colleges are now shifted to other Colleges.
The High Court observed:
“Since no final decision in the matter has yet been taken, therefore, without going further in the matter, we dispose of these writ petitions by vacating the interim order forthwith to enable the respondents to consider the matter and take appropriate final decision in accordance with law with respect to the Colleges involved in these writ petitions, which were announced in the year 2017.”
