The High Court of Madhya Pradesh has imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 each on the state chief secretary & two other senior officials for not filing reply to a petition regarding alleged non-payment of school fees of a rape survivor.The court earlier this month took suo motu cognizance of a news report which claimed that the government, despite taking responsibility of the education of the minor survivor & her sister, had stopped paying their school fees."In spite of earlier orders & in spite of granting time, the state counsel once again seeks time to file reply," a division bench of Chief Justice R Malimath & Justice Vishal Mishra said on Thursday.The court directed the chief secretary, Indore collector & principal secretary of the school education department to pay a cost of Rs 25,000 each from their own pockets by February 19, the next date of hearing.The girl was brutally raped by two men in Mandsaur district in 2018. She had to be admitted to a hospital for three months & undergo multiple surgeries.As a measure to rehabilitate the survivor after the trauma, the state government enrolled her & her elder sister in a private school in Indore.But the administration paid their fees only for a year, the media report claimed.The school even sent a notice to the Indore district collector & district education department seeking outstanding fees of Rs 14 lakh, as per the report.
TAGS: High Court of Madhya Pradesh Cost State Chief Secretary Senior Officials
