The division bench of the then Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma (now elevated to the Supreme Court) and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela on November 3, 2023 ordered that the three-member committee, headed by the chairperson, will inspect the schools.
The court, taking suo motu cognizance, was hearing the matter of an alleged sexual assault on a three-year-old minor girl by a cleaner in her school in south Delhi area. HC had constituted the committee in September to monitor implementation of a 2017 circular issued by Delhi government on the minimum standards of school safety.
Directing that the inspection proceedings will be conducted by the chairperson and committee’s two members may make suggestions in writing to the chairperson, whose decision shall be final andbinding, the court said the committee’s members will not interact with the head or the manager or any other authority of the school directly.
“Inspection of the classrooms, toilets, and other analogous areas of the school may be inspected by the Chairperson for the safety of the children which shall be photographed to make the inspection process fully transparent. The police verification of the guards and the staff shall be supplied by the management/HOS of the school, especially, those guards who are deputed outside the toilet of the female children,” the bench said.
“The management/HOS shall also ensure that breathalysers tests of the bus drivers are conducted regularly… In cases, where the school buses are not owned by the school authorities and are hired on contract basis, the contractor will ensure that the police verification is done and breathalysers test are conducted of the bus drivers prior to boarding the buses,” the court directed.
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