On boy’s PIL, high court asks govt to supply uniforms

Deprived of the school uniform promised by the government, an eight-year-old boy from Kinnal village in Koppal district knocked on the doors of the High Court on Wednesday.

Hearing the plea of Manjunath, a student of the local government school, the high court ordered the government to provide in two weeks the uniform not only to the boy but also to all students in the state in two months.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Mohammed Nawaaz not only reminded the government of its responsibilities but also hailed the petitioner’s (boy) decision to seek legal intervention. Manjunath, son of Devappa Harijan, had filed a public interest petition seeking direction to the state government to provide two pairs of stitched uniforms.

The government, which had promised uniforms to students under RTE, had provided one set of uniform and supplied only the cloth, for the second set. The bench observed, “This is not only the violation of the Act but is also a question of hygiene. The government must understand its responsibility in this.”