Decide on panel proposals on weight of school bags: HC

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 17

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has given the state six weeks to take a final view of the recommendations of the expert committee which was constituted to suggest measures to reduce the heavy load of school bags.

The directions were issued on Sunday by a division bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar in a contempt petition against the J&K administration and the school education authorities for not complying with the court orders with regard to heavy load of school bags.

“Let a copy of this order be sent to the Secretary, School Education Department, J&K, to ensure that a final view is taken and duly implemented,” the bench said, with further directions to the authorities to file a status report and place the decision taken on the recommendations of the committee positively within a period of six weeks.

The high court, in its previous orders, had also commented on the constitution of an expert committee by the state to make recommendations with regard to heavy load of school bags even as the state counsel had submitted that the committee report was under active consideration before the minister concerned and the Secretary of the School Education Department, J&K. The court had then “left it to the wise decision of the state to address the issue before February 2018”.

Contempt petition 

• The directions were issued on Sunday by a division bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar in a contempt petition against the J&K administration and the school education authorities for not complying with the court orders with regard to heavy load of school bags
•  The high court, in its previous orders, had also commented on the constitution of an expert committee by the state to make recommendations with regard to heavy load of school bags even as the state counsel.