New Delhi, Mar 13 (IANS): The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Arvind Kejriwal government on a plea seeking the construction of a new building of a government school in the Mustafabad area of the national capital.

The schools - Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS)/Government Boys Secondary School (GBSS) - were earlier in the form of tents and portacabins before they were demolished during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad showed displeasure over delaying in the construction of a school while issuing notice to the Aam Aadmi Party government and asked the latter to file a response in the case.

The court listed the matter for the next hearing on July 20.

The plea, moved in a form of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) litigation filed by NGO Social Jurist through advocate Ashok Agarwal, seeks the court's direction to the government to construct forthwith 56 additional classrooms for running the school demolished with a view to constructing a new school building.

The Public Works Department (PWD) was granted Rs 16.54 crore in June 2021 to build new classrooms, but no work has yet been done, the plea claims.

"It is a blatant failure on the part of respondents to discharge their constitutional and legal obligations to provide education to children of the masses," it said.

It is further argued that thousands of students who live in the Mustafabad region are currently being deprived of their right to education because there are no schools in the area.

That the inaction on the part of respondents violates the fundamental right to education of students as guaranteed under Articles 14, 21, and 21-A of the Constitution of India read with provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the petition stated.

Appearing for the Delhi government, standing counsel Santosh Kumar Tripathi submitted that the construction work for the building will start soon.