tnnLucknow: A Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Tuesday warned of action against schools failing to comply with its directions on deploying traffic marshals to regulate congestion outside campuses and ensure students’ safety.The court directed DCP (traffic) Lucknow to issue notices to schools that have neither deployed traffic marshals nor submitted any proposal for their appointment. Next hearing will be on July 30.A bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice BR Singh observed, “On three occasions or more, the schools were found to be flouting the directions of this court in deploying the marshalls, the said fact shall be intimated to this court where further course of action shall be decided and such errant schools should be proceeded against.”During hearing, additional advocate general informed the court that an agreement had been signed with the selected agency and that physical inspections of schools across the state were likely to begin on Aug 1. The court, thereafter, directed that the inspections should be carried out only by trained and qualified personnel. It further ordered state govt to verify the credentials of all members of the inspection teams before they begin the exercise.The bench said the initial phase of inspections would be crucial and directed that any difficulty or obstacle encountered during the process be brought to the court’s notice immediately through the additional advocate general so that appropriate directions could be issued.The court was also informed that Loreto Convent School had opened Gate No 6A, allowing vehicles transporting students to move through the school premises instead of stopping on the adjoining roads. This has led to a significant improvement in traffic flow around the school.The bench noted that several schools are jointly preparing common Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for traffic management. It directed that once finalised, the SOPs should be implemented uniformly across all schools to ensure student safety and better traffic regulation outside educational institutions.
