Sanskriti School – outrageous misuse of public money?

The Delhi High Court on 23rd Oct expressed its displeasure over the city’s reputed Sanskriti School, run by the wives of senior central officers, for receiving government funds. It stated “Why is there a separate school for children of group ‘A’ officers? You cannot create a separate island for children of these bureaucrats…. What is the necessity for various state governments and ministries, including the Defence Ministry and Reserve Bank of India, to fund the school run by the officers’ wives”? asked the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana. Justice Manmohan is also part of the bench.

The court also asked the school to file within a week a detailed affidavit pertaining to its management and the pattern of admission.

The court’s observations came after the counsel for the school submitted that earlier the institution had received government funds from various sources for its infrastructure but now it has stopped getting fund.

He also said 60 percent of seats are for the children of group ‘A’ officers, 10 percent for general public, five percent for staff and 25 percent for children under the category of Economically Weaker Section (EWS). To this, the bench referred to a status report and said as per the document the school had received funds till 2009.

Earlier in 2006, the bench had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report about the school for receiving government funds.

Talveen Singh, a columnist writes in Indian Express “This school has been a scandal from day one because public land and taxpayers’ money were appropriated to provide fine education to the children of men and women who provide for the citizens of India the worst schools in the world.”