HC asks state to submit data on Urdu schools

After Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) counsel K K Singhvi subsequently pointed out that the state government also runs Urdu medium secondary schools,the Division Bench of Chief Justice Shah and Justice R P Sondurbaldota asked the government to state the number of aided and unaided schools and the proportion of Urdu medium schools.

Also,asking the petitioner to provide further statistics on the issue,Chief Justice Mohit Shah told the lawyer for the petitioner A N Mulla,“If you want to justify your stand on the lack of Urdu medium schools,you should also provide documentary evidence.”

The judges were responding to a public interest litigation filed by Byculla resident Mirza Naheed Baig,which was filed subsequent to the closure of an Urdu medium school at Khadia street in the area. The petitioner contends the closure of vernacular medium schools amounts to “discrimination on the grounds of language,religion,race,caste and place of birth”. The petition states that even as the population of the city has doubled over the past two decades,the number of civic schools has not increased in tandem. In fact,the city has lost about 100 schools since 1995,according to the petition.

In a hearing on June 9,lawyer for the BMC Geeta Joglekar had cited lack of students and deterioration of the school buildings as reasons for the closing down of vernacular medium schools. The state government has been asked to file a reply by September 19.