PIL filed on textbook scam

A division bench comprising Chief Justice A K Pattnayak and Justice K K Lahoti issued notices to the Centre, the state government, Betul collector and Rajya Shiksha Kendra, a Bhopal-based state government body entrusted with the implementation of the scheme.

The notices, issued in response to a PIL filed by social activist Anurag Modi, have been made returnable within a month and the matter has been fixed for further hearing on June 18.

After visiting several schools in Betul district, The Indian Express had reported how students were still waiting for the books, nine months after their academic year began and a few months before their final examination.

Senior counsel N S Kale and Raghvendra Kumar argued that the corruption in the implementation of the scheme in Betul in particular, and Madhya Pradesh in general, violated the Constitutional rights of the students. The PIL prays for initiation of criminal proceedings against the district collector and the district project coordinator, who were directly responsible for implementing and monitoring the scheme in Betul.

The PIL has demanded that the report of additional director of Rajya Shiksha Kendra, who carried out the initial probe in the scam, be submitted in court along with the action taken report.