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The bench directed that the boat should be used for the students to travel to and from school. Additionally, during other hours, it would be available for sick individuals, senior citizens, and pregnant women
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court, in the suo moto public interest litigation, has directed the District Collector of Aurangabad to provide a proper boat with a specialized operator and life jackets for students using thermocol boats to reach school through snake-infested backwaters.
The directions were passed by the division bench of Justice Ravindra V Ghuge and Justice YB Khobragade. The division bench had registered a suo moto PIL of children in Bhiw Dhanora village of Aurangabad district using Thermocol rafts to travel across a dam reservoir filled with snakes to reach school. The Suo Moto Cognizance was taken based on a report published in TOI.
While quoting the Greek Philosopher Plato the bench said, “A famous saying goes as “NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF ALL INVENTIONS”. Can anyone imagine a girl and male students above the age of seven years, preparing a thermocol sheet to keep them afloat and using bamboo sticks with plastic square pieces laced to the edges of the bamboo sticks to be used as paddles, to navigate their way through the turbulent backwaters of the Jayakwadi Dam to reach the school for taking education?”
The bench directed that the boat should be used for the students to travel to and from school. Additionally, during other hours, it would be available for sick individuals, senior citizens, and pregnant women.
“During other times i.e. in between school hours or before or after school hours, the boat would also be used for the sick, old people and pregnant ladies so as to reach them to the nearest medical facilities. In short, this boat would be treated as a mode of transportation at all times (24x7) since nobody can predict a medical emergency in the middle of the night. Ideally two boats shall be made available so that the boat operators can work in two or more shifts,” the bench ordered.
The high court's order emphasized the need for urgent and effective measures to ensure the safety of children traveling through snake-infested backwater
“Time has come for us to pass an urgent and effective order to ensure that these students do not have to see one more day of such a treacherous journey by navigating through backwaters, keeping in view that sometimes venomous snakes climb on to the thermocol sheet and the kids have to get rid of those snakes. God forbid, if a child losses his balance and falls into the backwaters, he/she would face imminent danger of death, either by drowning or on account of snake bite,” the order reads.
The high court also commended Amicus Shri Shendurnikar for personally experiencing the backwaters and travelling in the thermocol raft to gain firsthand insights.
“We are overwhelmed by the gesture of the learned Amicus Shri Shendurnikar, who himself has gone to the backwaters of the Jayakwadi Dam and has himself boarded the thermocol raft and has undertaken the journey along with a parent of the school going girls, for taking the first hand impression as to how treacherous is it to travel through the backwaters in order to reach the school. This is an unprecedented gesture of the learned Advocate Shri Shendurnikar and we compliment him for the same,” the bench said.
The bench issued notice to the state government and directed the collector to implement the order of the court within 12 hours.
Case title: Suo Moto PIL
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