Shimla Municipal Corporation team to check parking space in Shimla schools: Himachal Pradesh high court

SHIMLA: On the issue of safety of children in school vehicles, the Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the Shimla municipal commissioner to constitute a team of engineers to visit the schools of Shimla and identify parking spaces for the vehicles.
Division bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan passed these orders on Friday on a petition filed by Nitin Vyas.The petitioner had alleged negligence in the part of government and school administrations in ensuring safety of the schoolchildren despite guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and the Central Board of School Education (CBSE).
The high court has directed the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) to send advance notice to each school before the inspection and to associate the principals and representatives of the school managing committees. It told SMC to file a status report after identifying spaces, preferably within school campuses, where the vehicles and small buses could be parked.
It also directed that the team would also submit a report if any additional construction or development of the parking sites at schools was required and each school would apply to the corporation for permission. HC also directed the schools to file status reports in this regard and posted the matter for January 5.
During the last hearing on November 2, the court was informed that in keeping with its orders, most of the schools in Shimla city have arranged specified dedicated vehicles or other alternative mode of transportation for carrying children on which schools were asked to file affidavits giving full description of the vehicles arranged by them.
The Himachal Road Transport corporation (HRTC) was also directed by the court to furnish the details of the vehicles exclusively arranged by it for carrying schoolchildren.
HC had earlier observed that Shimla, predominantly, has been a pedestrian town. It was only in the recent past that one found that children were travelling to school in vehicles. The court said that it was not uncommon to notice long queues and traffic jams on vehicular roads, during school hours.