The SC orders States and Union Territories to implement the Guidelines on School Safety and Security, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Education.

The Supreme Court bench of Justice B. V. Nagarathna and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh allowed a writ petition filed for the implementation of the Guidelines on School Safety and Security, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Education.

Bachpan Bachao Andolan filed an amended writ petition in the Supreme Court to direct all State  and Union Territory  (UT) governments   to immediately and mandatorily notify the Guidelines on School Safety and Security, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Education, on 8th October 2021, in compliance with the order dated 17th April 2018, passed by the Supreme Court. The petitioner also urged  that the Centre and State Governments should also   issue directions to schools across India to take immediate action and enquire about the well-being of the child  and also to ascertain the reason of absence of a child from school   for over 30 days or  the  reason that  a child  has  intermittently dropped  off school. Additionally, they sought that  directions  be issued to the National Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) ensure the effective implementation and timely monitoring of these guidelines.

The learned counsel for the Union of India (Respondent 1) submitted that the Government has substantially complied with the petitioner’s requests and it is now the responsibility of the State Governments to implement the guidelines  and hence appropriate order may be issued in the writ petition. Similarly, the learned counsel for NCPCR (Respondent 2) agreed with this submission and requested that directions be given to the State Governments to notify and comply with the guidelines. They also suggested that NCPCR be empowered to monitor the implementation of these guidelines.

After careful consideration of the submissions made the court allowed the petition and gave the following orders, “Consequently, the State Governments as well as the Union Territories are expected to adopt the guidelines and to implement the same with suitable modifications as and when necessary. Since, the State Governments have not been arrayed as parties in this writ petition, the Registry of this Court is directed to send a copy of this order to all the Chief Secretaries of the respective State Governments as well as an equivalent officer of the Union Territories. Respondent No.2 to also coordinate with the respective State Governments and Union Territories for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the Guidelines referred to above.For the purpose of monitoring, respondent No.2 is at liberty to seek Status Report/Action Taken Report from the respective States and Union Territories for the purpose of implementation of the guidelines.It is needless to observe that in the event, respondent No.2 seeks Action Taken Report or Status Report with regard to the implementation of the Guidelines from the respective State Governments/Union Territories, it is expected that respondent No.2 shall respond to and the Action Taken Report/Status Report is submitted to respondent No.2 herein at the earliest.”

The writ petition was disposed of in aforesaid terms.

Advocate for the Petitioner: Jagjit Singh Chhabra. 

Advocate for the Respondent: Sr. Advocate Anindita Pujari, Abhaid Parikh (R-2) and Amrish Kumar (R-1).

Case Details: Bachpan Bachao Andolan v. Union of India and Anr. Writ Petition (C) No. 558/2019.

Judgement