Low attendance in Delhi schools day after bomb scare; principals revisit evacuation plans for future
New Delhi (PTI): A day after more nearly 200 schools received hoax bomb emails, educational institutions in the city witnessed a slightly lower attendance, even as principals revisited evacuation plans for such emergencies in the future.
Around 200 schools in Delhi-NCR Wednesday morning received a hoax bomb threat via email which led to widespread panic among parents and students, prompting authorities to suspend classes and ask parents to pick their wards from the school.
Many schools on Thursday reopened to normalcy but attendance has taken a hit even in schools where the threat was not received, principals of some schools told PTI.
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School, said she revisited the school's evacuation plan on each floor and also wrote to disaster management authorities to conduct mock drills and awareness activities for them.
She said that there was "slightly more absenteeism" than usual on Thursday.
"I wrote an email to parents telling them to counsel their children and in case they need help from school counsellors, they are also available. I also requested parents to assess their reaction in case of such situations," Arora said.
She said some parents were pushing the gates and some were insisting on taking their children out of turn. "I told them, 'I have 2,700 children to take care of'," she told PTI.
Even in that situation, Arora said she asked teachers to hand the children over after properly checking the IDs of parents, and taking their signatures. Children were also asked to confirm the identities of their parents, she said.
Sudha Acharya, principal of ITL Public School in Dwarka, said parents were still scarred and anxious about the safety of their children in schools.
"Our attendance today has dropped to 85 per cent from an average of about 95 to 97 per cent daily. Certainly parents are still scarred and anxious about the safety of their children. Yesterday itself we had ensured parents that there is nothing to worry about. We didn't get anything on our official email ID," Acharya said.
Acharya, who is also the head of the National Progressive Schools Conference, a body of 250 private schools, said her counterparts in other institutions have also said the attendance is on the lower side.
"For instance, in nursery and KG classes, the attendance is around 80 per cent since there is some fear among parents. But the situation is normal," she added.
"There has been a 10-15 per cent drop in attendance due to the hoax threat compared to the usual strength every day. Parents should understand panicking would not help anyone. We need mutual cooperation to walk out of this situation," Anita Khosla, principal, G D Goenka Public School, Dwarka said.
Schools now plan to issue a fresh advisory to parents asking them to send their children for classes and assuring them that all guidelines for handling bomb threats are being followed by the administration.
They said school premises are now properly sanitised and police are constantly monitoring the security and safety of students and staff.
However, some parents escorted their wards to the schools on Thursday.
"My daughter's school did not receive any threat email, but the school was shut early due to panic among parents. Thankfully, the school opened at normal time today," said Nancy Singh, mother of a class 1 student in Ramagya School in Noida, Sector 50.
Others went to school due to the ongoing exams.
"I was under the impression that the schools will declare a holiday even today but they didn't because exams are going on. I brought my child to school only because of the exam otherwise I wouldn't have. Deep inside we are still sacred for their security and there are a lot of rumours doing rounds," said Preeti Chaudhary, mother of a class 9 student at Mothers Mary School, Mayur Vihar.
Delhi Police made an appeal to people on Thursday to not believe in audio messages that have surfaced on WhatsApp groups making false claims about the bomb threat.
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Constitution bench verdict binding on benches of lesser strength, says SC
New Delhi (PTI): A judgement of a Constitution bench would be "binding" on benches of lesser strength, the Supreme Court has said while recalling an April 2022 verdict delivered by it.
In its order dated April 7, 2022, the apex court had held that a panchayat cannot claim ownership of the land which has been taken from the real owners from their permissible ceiling limits under the land law in Haryana.
The apex court had consequently said panchayats can only manage and control the land which has been taken from the owners and cannot claim title.
"It is pertinent to note here that for the land taken from the proprietors by applying pro-rata cut from the permissible ceiling limits of the proprietors, management and control alone vests with the panchayat but such vesting of management and control is irreversible and the land would not revert to the proprietors for redistribution as the common purposes for which land has been carved out not only include the present requirements but the future requirements as well," it had said.
The top court had delivered the verdict on a batch of appeals against a full bench verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had examined the legality of sub-section 6 of Section 2(g) of the Haryana Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961.
In a judgement delivered on Thursday, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta said that when the high court verdict rested on the law laid down by the apex court's Constitution bench in 1966, "the least that was expected" of the court in the judgement under review was to explain as to why the high court was wrong in relying on the 1966 verdict.
"No law is required to state that a judgement of the Constitution bench would be binding on the benches of a lesser strength. Bhagat Ram (1966 verdict) has been decided by a strength of five judges, this court having a bench strength of two judges could not have ignored the law laid down by the Constitution bench in paragraph 5 in Bhagat Ram," the bench said.
The top court delivered its verdict on a plea seeking review of the April 2022 judgement.
It said that "ignoring" the law laid down by the Constitution bench and taking a view totally contrary to the same would amount to a material error, manifest on the face of the order.
"Ignoring the judgement of the Constitution bench, in our view, would undermine its soundness. The review could have been allowed on this short ground alone," it said.
While allowing the review petition, the bench said, "The judgement and order of this court dated April 7, 2022... is recalled and the appeal is restored to file."
The bench directed that the appeal be listed for hearing on August 7.
The top court observed it was settled that the review would be permissible only if there was a mistake or error apparent on the face of the record or any other sufficient reason was made out.
"The review of the judgement would be permissible only if a material error, manifest on the face of the order, undermines its soundness or results in miscarriage of justice. We are also aware that such an error should be an error apparent on the face of the record and should not be an error which has to be fished out and searched," it noted.
