Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice Ravindra Ghuge and Justice R G Khobragade on Wednesday fixed the nature of State and district level committees to verify whether the large amount of Government funds given to the local self-Gvoerningbodies across the State for the schools is spent only on basic educational facilities.
The State-level committee will work under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge while the district-level panel under the chairmanship of a retired district judge. After the approval from chairmen and members of the concerned committees, they will be formed and work as per the directives of the High Court. The next hearing on the suo moto petition has been placed on August 22.
During the earlier hearing, the State and Central Governments filed affidavits. The State Government has so far spent Rs 708 crore on various educational matters. In the affidavit, the Central Government stated it had given a fund of Rs 998 crores to the State government for education.
Despite the huge amount of funds available from the Central and State Governments, various fact-finding reports reveal a grim picture of the education sector. Therefore, the bench has decided to constitute committees for verification of funds usage. As amicus curiae, adv Rashmi Kulkarni is working. Adv Namitha Thole is assisting her.
Adv Bhushan Kulkarni appeared for the Central Government while Chief Government pleader Amarjitsinha Girase was present for the State Government. Adv Uttam Bondar is appearing for Zilla Parishad of the district. The district-level committee will be headed by a retired Principal District Judge living in the concerned district or nearby districts.
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State level committee
As decided by the HC bench, the 'State-level' committee will work under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge who has retired within 5 years while the Director of Education, Pune will work as the co-ordinator. Retired Director General of Police or Additional Director General of Police, retired Chief Secretary, and Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department will be the members of the committee.