PIL Filed In Kerala High Court Against Ernakulam District Collector Over Delay In Declaring Holiday For Schools Amid Heavy Rains

A Public Interest Litigation was filed before the Kerala High Court against the delayed decision of the District Collector, Ernakulam, to declare holiday for the Schools and Colleges in the District due to heavy rainfall. It also sought a directive to frame proper guidelines on declaring holidays to the Schools and Colleges.

The PIL has been filed by Advocate MR Danil, a lawyer practising at the High Court. The petitioner submitted that the District Collector declared holiday to all the schools and colleges in the district due to heavy rainfall at 8:45 AM on the concerned day through a social media post. Later, the District Collector clarified that the Schools that have already started functioning need not be closed. 

Most of the Schools and Colleges in the district of Ernakulam start functioning before 8 AM, and due to the delay in declaring holiday on the part of the respondents put the children and their parents in disarray. 

Therefore, the petitioner moved the Kerala High Court seeking urgent intervention from the Court, directing the District Collector to submit a report before the court giving an explanation of why the delay was caused.

The petitioner also seeks for framing of proper guidelines on declaring holidays for schools, fixing the specific time within which the announcement of holiday should be made by the District Collector and also seeks issuance of proper guidelines for regulating social media platforms to ensure proper clarity on the announcements of decisions taken by the respondents. 

Case Title: M.R. Dhanil v. District Collector and Others.