AVINASH MEHROTRA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This important Public Interest Litigation relates to a fire swept through the Lord Krishna Middle School in District Kumbakonam in the city of Madras, Tamil Nadu. The fire started in the schools kitchen while cooks were preparing mid-day meal. In order to protect the rights of life and education guaranteed to all school going children under Articles 21 and 21-A, the petitioner has prayed this Court to bring about safer school conditions.

(2.) It is alleged that Lord Krishna Middle School is one of the thousands of private schools that have sprung up in response to drastic cuts in government spending on education. This building houses more than 900 students in a crowded, thatched-roof building with a single entrance, a narrow stairway, windowless classrooms and only one entrance and exit.

(3.) The fire had sparked by dry coconut leaves used as firewood in a nearby makeshift kitchen with thatched-roof. The fire had started when the cooks were preparing mid-day meal under a Mid-day meal scheme popular in Tamil Nadu. It is alleged that the ventilation of the entire school building was extremely poor with only cement-perforated windows. It took sufficient time for the fire fighters on a crane to break these windows and rescue the few children they could with severe burn injuries. The kitchen fire rose so high that the thatched roof of the classrooms caught fire and the blazing roof Suppl orted by bamboo poles collapsed on the school children and most of them died on the spot.