A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Madras High Court, accusing the Tamil Nadu government of having turned a blind eye to the 10 special schools being run by it for visually-impaired children. The litigant has complained of many teaching posts in these schools, lying vacant.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu on Tuesday, July 25, 2023 ordered notices, returnable by October 10, to the State government and the State Commissionerate for the Differently Abled on the PIL petition filed by Chennai-based advocate, P. Pugalenthi.
The petitioner’s counsel, M. Radhakrishnan told the court that the government runs special schools for the visually impaired in Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Poonamallee, Salem, Madurai, Pudukottai, Sivaganga, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri and Cuddalore. His client had visited a few of them. The government had sanctioned one post of principal for the school in Poonamallee and nine posts of headmaster for the rest of the schools. Of the 10 posts, five were vacant, the counsel said. The school in Poonamallee did not have a principal, while the schools in Thanjavur, Tiruchi, Dharmapuri and Cuddalore did not have headmasters.
