Centre, Gujarat court HC ire for not releasing SSA grants

Justice Jayant Patel has asked the three parties to show as to why the petition filed by Naya Gujarat Sewa Mandal through its chairman Habibkhan Pathan for release of grant under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) should not be admitted. They have been asked to file their replies by November 17.

Representing the petitioner, advocates Mukul Sinha and S H Iyer submitted in the court that the SSA was launched by the Central government with a view to fulfill the fundamental right of primary education to every child. The scheme is implemented by the local authority with the grant provided by the Centre to all the states.

They pointed out that benefits of the scheme were, however, not available to the children belonging to the Muslim community living in slums of Ahmedabad. According to a survey conducted by the Naya Gujarat Sewa Mandal, over 2,500 Muslim children in the age group of 6 to 14 in Danilimda and Chandola lake areas of the city had never gone to school or were drop outs and were working in garages, tea stalls, or as footpath vendors. The petitioners said they had submitted an application to the concerned authorities with a list of 490 such children for starting a school under the SSA.

Though the school was sanctioned, the authorities did not release the grant. The school became functional in June 2008 in anticipation of grants and the Mandal continued to pay salaries to the staff. On September 10, the local authorities sent him a message refusing to pay the grant on the ground that the children studying in the school were different from those in the list.

The change of students took place because the Chandola Lake was filled with Narmada water, necessitating the shifting of 1,500 hutments elsewhere. The advocates submitted before the court that the dream of children getting primary education would not materialise if the grant was not released immediately. In its absence, these children would again be forced to work either as child labourer or indulge in criminal activities.